•^<9""''^ 


"%/ 


PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


% 


'&, 


Purchased   by  the    Hamill    Missionary   Fund. 


BV 

2550 

.G45 

1904 

Gei 

f 

Qeral 
ields 

survey 

and 

home 

General  Survey  and  Home    Fields 


General    Survey   and 
Home   Fields 


Addresses  delivered  before  the 
Eastern  Missionary  Con- 
vention of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  Philadelphia, 
Pa.,     October     13-15,     1903 


NEW     YORK:     EATON     &     MAINS 
CINCINNATI:   JENNINGS   &    PYE 


^ 


The  Philadelphia  Convention  Addresses  are  pub- 
lished in  a  series  of  seven  small  volumes,  of 
which  this  is  one.     The  volumes  are  entitled : 

A  CALL  TO  ADVANCE 

MISSIONS  AND  WORLD  MOVEMENTS 

THE  ASIATIC  FIELDS 

THE  AFRICAN,  EUROPEAN,  AND 
LATIN  AMERICAN  FIELDS 

GENERAL  SURVEY  AND  HOME  FIELDS 

YOUNG  PEOPLE  AND  MISSIONS 

THE  MISSIONARY  WORKSHOP 


Copyright,  1904,  by 
EatoxN  &  Mains 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

I.   The  Missionary  Society  and  Its 

Urgent  N^eds 7 

Rev.  A.  B.  Leonard,  D.D. 

II.   Achievements   of    Our   Mission- 
ary S0CIETY^< 28 

Rev.  James  M.  Buckley,  D.  D. 

III.  Successes  and  Opportunities  in 

THE  HoMt  Field 45 

v 
Henry  K.  Carroll,  LL.D. 

IV.  Difficulties    at    Home    in    the 

World's  Ev^gelization.  . .   69 

Rev.  James  M.  King,  D.D. 

V.   Successes  and  Opportunities  in 

THE  Cirres 91 

Rev.  E.  J.  Helms,  D.D. 


General   Survey  and 
Home   Fields. 


L 

THE     MISSIONARY     SOCIETY 
AND  ITS  URGENT  NEEDS. 

By  REV.   A.   B.   LEONARD,  D.D. 

A  Christian  missionary  is  one  who  is 
sent  to  preach  the  Gospel  where  the  Church 
is  not  organized,  or,  if  organized,  not  strong 
enough  to  furnish  self-support.  A  mission- 
ary society  sends  out  missionaries  and  pro- 
vides, in  part  or  in  whole,  for  their  suste- 
nance. The  Missionary  Society  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  is  an  organi- 

7 


Gi:neral  Surve;y  and  Home  Fields. 

zation  by  which  missionary  work  is  carried 
on  in  the  United  States  and  Territories,  and 
in  foreign  countries.  This  Society  was  or- 
ganized April  5,  1819,  by  a  company  of 
ministers  and  laymen  in  the  city  of  New 
York.  At  first  it  was  independent,  but  was 
adopted  by  the  General  Conference  in  1820, 
and  so  became  the  organization  of  a  great 
ecclesiastical  body,  or,  rather,  by  adopting 
the  Missionary  Society  the  ecclesiastical 
body  organized  itself  for  missionary  work. 
Every  member  of  the  Church,  therefore,  be- 
longs to  this  Society,  and  is  interested  in  its 
management  and  success.  Though  this  is 
the  oldest  of  all  our  benevolent  societies, 
and  is  in  an  important  sense  creator  of  all 
that  have  since  been  organized,  it  is  not 
thoroughly  understood,  either  in  its  organi- 
zation or  its  methods  of  administration,  by 
the  rank  and  file  of  its  constituency. 

For  purposes  of  administration  the  Gen- 
eral  Conference   has   created   dual   bodies, 

8 


Missionary  Society  and  Its  Ne:e:ds. 

known  as  the  General  Missionary  Commit- 
tee and  a  Board  of  Managers. 

The  GeneraIv  Missionary  Committee. 

The  General  Committee  is  so  constituted 
as  to  represent  the  entire  Church  territori- 
ally. It  has  authority  to  establish  new  Mis- 
sions in  the  interim  of  the  sessions  of  the 
General  Conference,  and  to  make  all  appro- 
priations of  money,  for  use  at  home  and 
abroad,  except  the  sum  of  $50,000  which 
is  placed  annually  at  the  disposal  of  the 
Board  of  Managers,  by  constitutional  en- 
actment, to  provide  for  unforeseen  emer- 
gencies. The  General  Conference  divides 
the  whole  Church  into  fourteen  districts, 
each  containing  approximately  the  same 
number  of  constituents,  and  so  far  as  pos- 
sible consisting  of  contiguous  territory. 
From  each  of  these  districts  the  General 
Conference  appoints  quadrennially  one  per- 
son to  serve  on  the  General  Committee  for 

9 


General  Survey  and  Home  Fields. 

a  term  of  four  years.  It  is  the  duty  of  each 
of  these  representatives  to  study  carefully 
the  needs  of  his  own  district,  that  he  may 
be  able  to  represent  it  fully  and  fairly  to 
the  Committee  as  a  whole  at  its  annual  ses- 
sions, when  the  appropriations  are  made. 
The  Board  of  Managers  sends  annually  an 
equal  number  of  representatives.  The 
Board  representatives  have  to  do  with  the 
administration  of  the  missionary  work  of 
the  Church  at  home  and  abroad  from  month 
to  month,  as  the  year  goes  by,  and  are  fa- 
miliar with  every  detail  of  practical  admin- 
istration. The  bishops  and  the  missionary 
bishops,  who  preside  annually  in  all  the 
Conferences  and  Missions  at  home  and  in 
the  foreign  fields,  are  members  of  the  Gen- 
eral Committee,  as  are  the  Corresponding 
Secretary,  the  First  Assistant  Correspond- 
ing Secretary,  the  Treasurer,  the  Assistant 
Treasurer,  and  the  Recording  Secretary — 
in  all  at  this  time  fifty-two  members.     The 

10 


Missionary  Society  and  Its  Needs. 

Committee  meets  annually,  in  the  month  of 
November,  and  spends  usually  one  week  in 
making  appropriations  for  the  year  succeed- 
ing. Its  sessions  are  open  to  the  public, 
and  it  is  equal  to  a  liberal  education  on  the 
subject  of  missions  to  attend,  hear  the  dis- 
cussions, and  carefully  observe  the  methods 
pursued  and  the  thoroughness  with  which 
the  business  is  transacted.  Seldom  is  a 
Conference  or  a  Mission,  at  home  or 
abroad,  called  but  that  some  bishop  will 
respond  who  has  administered  in  said  Con- 
ference or  Mission  within  one  year.  No- 
vember, 1902,  this  Committee  met  in  Al- 
bany, N.  Y.  All  the  effective  bishops  and 
missionary  bishops  were  in  attendance  ex- 
cept Bishop  Warne.  Bishop  Vincent  repre- 
sented nine  Conferences  and  Missions  in 
Europe;  Bishop  Thoburn  seven  Confer- 
ences in  Southern  Asia;  Bishop  Moore 
eight  Conferences  in  Eastern  Asia;  Bishop 

Hartzell    three     Conferences     in    Africa; 

II 


GeineraIv  Survey  and  Home  Fields. 

Bishop  McCabe  two  Conferences  in  South 
America ;  Bishop  Hamilton  one  Conference 
in  Mexico.  The  bishops  were  present  who 
had  presided  in  our  sixty-six  EngHsh- 
speaking  Conferences  in  which  there  is  mis- 
sionary work,  sixteen  foreign-speaking  Con- 
ferences, and  nine  Mission  Conferences  and 
Missions — in  all  ninetv-one  Conferences, 
Mission  Conferences,  and  Missions — some 
of  whom  had  been  on  all  the  foreign  fields 
in  former  years — and  all  on  some  of  them. 
The  Corresponding  Secretaries  were  pres- 
ent, who  by  correspondence  and  personal 
visitation  are  in  touch  with  the  whole  field, 
home  and  foreign  ;  the  Recording  Secretary, 
who  has  charge  of  all  the  records  of  the 
Missionary  Society ;  the  Treasurer ;  the  As- 
sistant Treasurer;  the  District  Representa- 
tives, and  the  fourteen  members  of  the 
Board  of  Managers ;  all  ready  to  con- 
tribute to  the  general  fund  of  information. 
It  is  in  the  light  of  information  gathered 

12 


Missionary  Society  and  Its  Ne:e:ds. 

from  all  these  sources  that  the  annual  ap- 
propriations are  made,  and  while  it  is  not 
claimed  that  no  mistakes  occur  it  may  be 
reasonably  assumed  that  they  are  reduced 
to  the  minimum. 

The:  Board  of  Managers. 

The  Board  of  Managers  consists  of  all 
the  bishops,  thirty-two  ministers,  and  thirty- 
two  laymen.  The  ministerial  members  are 
pastors,  presiding  elders,  college  presidents, 
and  General  Conference  officials ;  and  the 
laymen  are  from  the  various  secular  and 
professional  walks  of  life,  clear-headed, 
warm-hearted  business  men.  The  meetings 
of  the  Board  are  held  on  the  third  Tuesday 
of  each  month.  Some  of  the  members  come 
from  Baltimore,  Philadelphia,  Boston,  and 
one  from  Altoona,  Pa.,  while  the  greater 
number  reside  in  or  are  contiguous  to 
New  York  city.  No  member  receives  either 
compensation  for  services  rendered  or  trav- 

13 


GlCNJ-RAIv    SuRVt:Y    AND    IIoiME    FlELDS. 

eling  expenses.  All  business  Is  prepared 
by  the  Corresponding  Secretaries,  submit- 
ted to  committees  for  careful  considera- 
tion, and  then  reported  to  the  Board  for 
final  action.  Upon  the  whole  I  do  not 
know  how  so  vast  a  trust  could  be  more 
thoroughly  and  intelligently  administered. 
The  credit  of  the  Missionary  Society  is  as 
good  in  New  York  as  that  of  any  business 
house  or  bank,  and  in  all  countries  its  drafts 
are  as  good  as  gold. 

Business  Methods. 

Occasionally  somebody  who  knows  noth- 
ing about  the  methods  of  the  Society  is 
heard  to  say  that  the  time  has  come  when 
the  Missionary  Society  should  be  placed  on 
a  business  basis.  Well,  for  eighty-four 
years  it  has  been  doing  business,  and  during 
that  period,  although  it  has  collected  and 
disbursed  many  millions  of  dollars,  so  far 
as   anyone  knows   not  a   dollar  has   gone 

14 


Missionary  Socie:ty  and  Its  Ne:e:ds. 

astray,  its  drafts  have  been  promptly  cashed 
when  presented,  and  its  credit  has  remained 
unimpaired. 

So  far  as  the  business  methods  of  the 
General  Committee  and  the  Board  of  Man- 
agers are  concerned  enough  has  already 
been  said,  but  something  additional  may  be 
added  in  detail.  Every  foreign  Mission  has 
a  Finance  Committee  appointed  by  the 
Board  of  Managers.  These  committees 
are  required  to  forward  to  the  Correspond- 
ing Secretaries,  annually,  carefully  pre- 
pared estimates  of  proposed  expenditures 
at  least  three  months  before  the  close  of 
the  calendar  year.  These  estimates  are 
first  examined  by  the  secretaries  and  then 
brought  to  the  attention  of  the  proper 
standing  committees  of  the  Board  of  Man- 
agers, which,  after  due  consideration, 
recommend  to  the  General  Committee  the 
sums  to  be  appropriated  to  the  Missions  re- 
spectively.    In  cases  where  the  sum  appro- 

15 


Geinerai,  Survey  and  Homd  Fields. 

priated  by  the  General  Committee  to  a 
given  Mission  is  less  than  the  sum  asked  in 
the  estimates  it  is  referred  back  to  the  Fi- 
nance Committee  of  the  Mission  for  redis- 
tribution, with  instructions  to  bring  the  ex- 
penditure within  the  amount  appropriated ; 
said  redistribution  to  be  subject  to  approval 
by  the  bishop  in  charge  and  the  Board  of 
Managers.  Special  appropriations  asked 
on  account  of  tuiforeseen  emergencies  oc- 
casioned by  sickness  and  death  of  missiona- 
ries, loss  of  property  by  fire,  flood,  or  earth- 
quake, must  have  the  approval  of  the 
Finance  Committee  of  the  Mission  from 
which  the  request  comes  before  it  will  be 
favorably  considered  by  the  Board  of  Man- 
agers. Records  of  all  properties  and  deeds 
for  the  same,  owned  by  the  Missionary  So- 
ciety, are  in  the  missionary  office,  as  are 
also  records  of  all  bequests,  under  the  su- 
pervision of  the  Recording  Secretary.  Re- 
mittances are  made  to  all  foreign  Missions 

i6 


Missionary  Society  and  Its  Ni:e:ds. 

monthly,  by  the  Corresponding  Secretary, 
by  drafts  upon  the  Treasurer.  Drafts  are 
often  sent  out  for  large  sums  of  money 
when  the  treasury  is  empty,  and  during 
their  absence  of  about  three  or  four  months 
they  draw  no  interest,  while  at  least  half  of 
the  time  of  their  absence  they  are  paying 
the  salaries  of  our  missionaries,  supporting 
our  native  workers,  and  paying  other  cur- 
rent expenses,  thus  saving  thousands  of 
dollars  annually  on  interest  account. 

The  Financing  oi^  Home  Missions. 

In  the  home  field  all  missions  are  financed 
in  practically  the  same  manner  as  foreign 
missions,  except  those  within  Annual  Con- 
ferences, which  are  under  the  supervi- 
sion of  the  Conferences,  respectively,  the 
bishops,  and  presiding  elders.  All  accounts 
are  duly  audited  annually  on  the  field, 
as  are  likewise  the  accounts  in  the  home 
office. 

2  17 


Genejrai,  Surve:y  and  Homi:  Fiei^ds. 

Prompt  and  E^^ective  Administration. 

Anyone  can  see  that  a  business  that 
practically  includes  the  whole  world  and 
deals  with  all  peoples,  kindreds,  and  tongues 
is  beset  with  many  difficulties  and  embar- 
rassments. To  overcome  these  is  no  small 
task,  and  if  there  are  occasional  mistakes 
made,  delays  and  annoyances  to  be  endured, 
the  wonder  is  not  that  they  occur,  but  that 
they  are  not  more  numerous  and  damaging 
than  history  records.  All  questions  are 
promptly  taken  up  and  conclusions  are 
reached  with  as  little  delay  as  possible,  and 
with  as  much  wisdom  as  those  charged  with 
responsibility  can  command.  When  va- 
cancies occur  in  the  missionary  staff,  by 
sickness  or  death,  they  are  filled  as  quickly 
as  competent  persons  can  be  found  and  to 
the  extent  that  financial  resources  will  per- 
mit. No  exigency  of  a  missionary  at  home 
or  abroad  is  permitted  to  go  unrelieved  un- 

i8 


Missionary  Socie^ty  and  Its  Ne:e:ds. 

less  he  is  beyond  the  reach  of  the  Inter- 
national Postal  Union  or  telegraph  and 
cable  facilities. 

Embarrassed  by  lack  of  funds  with  which 
to  carry  forward  our  growing  work 
throughout  the  world,  steps  were  taken 
nearly  two  years  ago  to  aid  our  pastors  and 
presiding  elders  to  arouse  the  Church  to 
greater  activity  in  the  interest  of  world- 
wide evangelization.  Upon  the  recommen- 
dation of  the  General  Committee,  the 
Board  of  Managers  and  the  missionary  of- 
fice organized  what  is  known  as  the  Open 
Door  Emergency  Movement,  which  culmi- 
nated in  the  great  Cleveland  Convention  a 
year  ago,  and  later  had  further  develop- 
ment in  the  splendid  Convention  in  Phila- 
delphia, by  which  the  whole  Church  has 
been  more  deeply  stirred  than  ever  before, 
and  as  a  result  the  income  of  the  Mission- 
ary Society  for  1903  was  the  largest  in  our 
history.     We  have  about  reached  the  fif- 

19 


Ge:ne:rai.  Surve:y  and  Home:  Fields. 

teen-himdred-thousand-doUar  line,  bringing 
the  two-million-dollar  line  plainly  into  view, 
with  the  prospect  of  crossing  it  before  an- 
other quadrennium  ends. 

Success  Already  Achieved. 

We  largely  owe  our  denominational 
greatness  in  the  West,  the  Northwest,  the 
Rocky  Mountain  region,  and  the  Pacific 
coast  to  the  Missionary  Society.  When, 
going  west,  one  crosses  the  Mississippi 
River  he  enters  a  Methodist  empire  which 
stretches  away  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  ex- 
tends from  Canada  on  the  north  to  the  Rio 
Grande  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  on  the 
south,  in  many  parts  of  which  Methodists 
about  equal  all  the  other  denominations, 
including  the  Roman  Catholic.  In  all  that 
vast  region  the  Missionary  Society  has  pio- 
neered the  way,  keeping  the  Methodist 
preachers  on  the  front  line  of  the  ever  ad- 
vancing column  of  settlers  and  explorers. 

20 


Missionary  Socie:ty  and  Its  Needs. 

Jason  Lee,  a  Methodist  missionary, 
preached  the  first  Protestant  sermon  in 
Fort  Hall,  Idaho,  on  July  27,  1834.  In 
September,  1838,  he  preached  in  what  is 
now  the  city  of  Vancouver,  in  the  State  of 
Washington. 

It  was  Jason  Lee  and  those  associated 
with  him  who  formulated  the  memorial  to 
Congress  asking  for  Territorial  recognition, 
which  was  presented  to  the  United  States 
Senate  January  28,  1839,  by  Senator  Linn, 
of  Missouri.  Mr.  Lee  made  the  trip  across 
the  continent  to  Washington  for  the  pur- 
pose of  bearing  this  document,  and  within 
ten  days  after  its  presentation  to  the  Senate 
Mr.  Linn  offered  a  bill  establishing  a  Terri- 
tory north  of  latitude  42  and  west  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  to  be  known  as  the  Ore- 
gon Territory.  This  action  was  wholly  at 
the  instance  of  the  missionaries  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  occurred 

when  there  were  only  two  male  missiona- 

21 


Gf.nerat^  Survey  and  Home;  Fiei^ds. 

ries  of  the  American  Board  west  of  the 
Rocky  ]\Iountains,  and  they  were  two  hun- 
dred miles  distant  when  the  memorial  was 
written.  Now  there  are  three  Annual  Con- 
ferences in  that  territory — the  Oregon,  the 
Puget  Sound,  and  the  Columbia  River — 
and  Methodism  is  in  all  this  great  region 
predominant.  As  one  reads  the  history  of 
the  Pacific  Northwest  he  cannot  resist  the 
conviction  that  but  for  the  missionaries  sent 
out  by  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  that 
vast  territory  might  now  be  under  the 
Union  Jack  rather  than  the  Stars  and 
Stripes. 

Success  in  the  Foreign  Field. 

In  the  foreign  field  this  Society  has  not 
been,  upon  the  whole,  less  successful.  Be- 
ginning in  1833  i"  Africa,  we  now  have 
one  Annual  and  two  Mission  Conferences — 
Liberia,  West  Central  Africa,  and  East 
Central  Africa — with  over  4,000  members. 

22 


Missionary  Socie:ty  and  Its  Needs. 

Our  work  was  founded  in  South  America  in 
1836,  where  there  are  two  Annual  Confer- 
ences— the  South  America  and  the  Western 
South  America — with  more  than  5,000  mem- 
bers ;  in  China  in  1847,  where  there  are  two 
Annual  Conferences — Foochow  and  North 
China — a  Mission  Conference — Hinghua 
— and  two  Missions — Central  and  West 
China — with  a  membership  of  about  24,000 ; 
in  1849  i^  Germany,  the  work  having  ex- 
tended into  Switzerland,  three  Conferences 
in  all — North  Germany,  South  Germany, 
and  Switzerland — with  more  than  28,000 
members ;  in  1853  in  Scandinavia,  where 
there  are  two  Annual  Conferences — the 
Norway  and  the  Sweden — and  one  Mission 
Conference — Denmark — with  27,000  mem- 
bers ;  in  1856  in  Southern  Asia,  where 
there  are  now  six  Annual  Conferences — 
North  India,  Northwest  India,  South  India, 
Bombay,  Bengal,  and  Malaysia,  including 
the    Philippine    Islands — and    one    Mission 

23 


Ge:ne:rai.  Surve;y  and  Home  Fii;i.ds. 

Conference — Burma — with  120,000  mem- 
bers; in  1857  i^  Bulgaria,  a  Mission  Con- 
ference, with  about  360  members ;  in  1872 
in  Italy,  an  Annual  Conference,  with  about 
2,500  members ;  in  1872  in  Japan,  an 
Annual  Conference  and  a  Mission  Con- 
ference, with  over  6,000  members ;  in  1873 
in  Mexico,  an  Annual  Conference,  with 
nearly  6,000  members;  in  1884  in  Fin- 
land, a  Mission,  with  about  1,500  mem- 
bers ;  in  1885  in  Korea,  a  Mission,  with 
nearly  7,000  members.  Total  member- 
ship, including  probationers,  approximately, 
230,000. 

In  these  countries  we  have  469  missiona- 
ries and  2,554  native  preachers.  There  are 
39,666  students  in  our  schools,  and  1,401 
children  in  our  orphanages.  The  estimated 
value  of  our  property  in  foreign  lands  is 
$6,000,000.  All  this  has  been  accumulated 
during  the  lifetime  of  many  who  are  still 
living. 

24 


Missionary  Society  and  Its  Ne:eds. 

Money  Needed. 

The     Missionary     Society     needs    more 
money.      It   requires    money   to    send    out 
and  support  missionaries  in  both  home  and 
foreign  fields,  and  to  support  native  preach- 
ers and  workers  until  the  churches  become 
self-supporting.    It  requires  money  to  build 
churches,   found  schools  and  colleges  and 
support   faculties,   erect   hospitals   and   or- 
phanages and  care  for  their  inmates,  to  es- 
tablish printing  presses,  and  print  and  dis- 
tribute literature.     To  meet  this  pressing 
demand  now  upon  us,  our  income  of  over 
$1,500,000  for  the  year  now  ending  should 
be  immediately  doubled,  which  would  bring 
the  contributions  of  our  people  to  the  Mis- 
sionary Society  up  to  over  three  million  dol- 
lars annually,  an  average  of  one  dollar  per 
member.      Every   member   of   the    Church 
should  be  first  of  all  loyal  to  the  general 
fund  of  the  Missionary  Society.     I  believe 

25 


Ge:ne:rai.  Surve:y  and  Home:  Fidi^ds. 

in  special  gifts,  but  only  after  the  giver  has 
discharged  his  obligation  to  the  general 
fund.  Special  gifts  should  be  over  and 
above  regular  offerings.  Above  all,  beware 
of  independent,  outside,  irresponsible  mis- 
sionary enterprises.  As  a  rule  they  are 
poorly  administered,  expensive,  and  accom- 
plish small  results  for  the  money  expended. 

Missionaries  Needed. 

The  Missionary  Society  needs  missiona- 
ries. In  the  foreign  field  the  need  is  press- 
ing. Not  a  few  of  our  missionaries  are 
nearing  the  end  of  their  active  service. 
Soon  they  will  be  called  to  their  reward,  or 
be  retired  by  reason  of  waning  powers  of 
mind  and  body.  The  present  force  should 
be  promptly  doubled.  The  best  brawn  and 
brain  the  Church  can  produce  are  needed. 
A  half  dozen  years  ago  more  capable  young 
men  and  women  were  offering  themselves 

than  the  Society  had  means  to  support,  but 

26 


Missionary  Society  and  Its  Needs. 

during  the  last  year  the  supply  has  not  been 
equal  to  the  demand.  Rarely  does  anyone 
hear  a  call  to  the  mission  field  who  is  re- 
ceiving a  larger  salary  than  the  Missionary 
Society  can  offer.  Not  a  few  who  have 
been  long  on  the  Student  Volunteer  roll 
are  finding  more  lucrative  and  desirable  em- 
ployment at  home,  and  the  call  to  the  for- 
eign field  seems  to  be  slowly  dying  away. 

27 


II. 


ACHIEVEMENTS     OF     OUR 
MISSIONARY   SOCIETY. 

By  REV.  JAMES  M.   BUCKLEY,  D.D. 

It  is  desirable  to  state  accurately  what 
has  been  referred  to  in  a  general  way.  On 
the  authority  of  Dr.  Benton,  the  Recording 
Secretary  of  the  Missionary  Society,  from 
1853  to  1903  $18,271,751.73  has  been  spent 
in  the  foreign  field,  and  $14,574,317.64  has 
been  spent  at  home,  and  the  total  for  the  last 
half  century  is  $32,846,069.37;  but  it  was 
apparently  impossible  to  secure  an  accurate 
statement  for  the  preceding  years  as  to  the 
division  of  the  funds  between  the  home  and 
foreign  work.  So  I  ascertained  the  amounts 
spent  from  the  beginning  until  now.     The 

28 


Missionary  Society  Achie:vements. 

total  amount,  not  including  the  office  ex- 
penses, or  any  matters  extraneous,  appro- 
priated to  the  home  and  foreign  work  by 
this  society  is  $39,615,284.68. 

Basis  for  Estimati:  01^  the  Work. 

This  may  serve  as  the  basis  for  some  ob- 
servations that  I  will  make  concerning  the 
proper  estimate  of  the  work  of  the  Mis- 
sionary Society.  An  estimate  requires  a 
consideration  of  the  original  aim,  the  means 
at  hand,  and  the  time  involved.  There  is 
another  element,  not  often  duly  considered, 
that  is,  whether  there  have  been  achieved 
any  results  incapable  of  tabulation.  If  a 
man  were  to  attempt  to  demonstrate  that  he 
had  been  kind  to  his  wife  during  the  fifty 
years  of  their  married  life  he  certainly  could 
proceed  on  the  usual  scale,  that  he  had  at- 
tended to  all  his  duties,  and  had  been  what 
in  the  rural  districts  the  women  call  "a 
good  provider,"  that  he  had  built  up  and 

29 


Ge:nerai,  Surve:y  and  Home:  Fields. 

kept  over  her  head  a  house,  that  he  had 
allowed  her  to  be  queen  in  the  house  while 
he  was  king  in  the  outer  estate.  He  could 
further  show  that  he  had  paid  for  the  furni- 
ture, that  he  had  also  furnished  the  money 
to  purchase  a  respectable  outfit  of  clothing 
for  his  wife  and  her  children.  But  if  all 
these  estimates  from  the  beginning  to  the 
end  w^ere  duly  made,  and  there  were  not  a 
vast  field  incapable  of  such  an  inventory 
there  would  be  a  slight  element  of  dissatis- 
faction in  his  wife's  mind,  and  a  larger  one 
in  her  heart. 

Deeper  Knowi^edge  o^  the  Enterprise. 

If  the  work  that  cannot  be  tabulated  is 
not  recognized  the  existence  of  the  society 
cannot  be  justified.  The  work  must  be  fol- 
lowed to  its  culmination  in  individual  expe- 
rience, in  the  life  of  the  people,  in  the  modi- 
fications of  human  life,  and  in  all  the  as- 
pects of  human  progress.    To  some  it  might 

30 


Missionary  Society  Achii:ve;me:nts. 

seem  strange  that  any  person  would  put 
down  a  topic  of  this  kind  concerning  an  in- 
stitution eighty-four  years  old. 

Is  it  not  reasonable  to  expect  that  a  great 
society — planted  in  this  great  country  and  in 
our  expanding  Church — doing  business  in 
all  parts  of  the  world  will  be  constantly 
bringing  something  new  to  the  surface  at- 
tracting public  attention?  Is  it  not  reason- 
able to  suppose,  with  all  the  facilities  of  the 
missionary  plant  and  the  intelligent  sympa- 
thy of  the  people  of  other  denominations,  a 
large  part  or  probably  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  persons  would  know  more  about  the 
Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church?  It  would  clearly  seem  so 
at  the  first  glance.  But  it  is  a  fact  that  so 
soon  as  the  original  society  has  successfully 
passed  a  generation — and  it  grows  more 
so  as  it  passes  back — the  initial  impulse  is 
lost  sight  of,  and  the  institution  has  to  com- 
pete with  the  remembrance  and  recognition 

31 


Ge:ne:rai.  Surve;y  and  Home  Fii^lds. 

not  only  with  others  of  its  own  kind,  but 
with  everything  that  takes  up  human  atten- 
tion. 

Consider  that  a  generation  comes  up  in 
thirty-five  years;  and  in  fact  we  are  told 
by  the  surrogate  of  the  county  of  Nev/ 
York  that  all  the  property  in  that  city  goes 
through  his  court  once  every  thirty-five 
years  on  an  average.  No  generation  was 
ever  yet  born  with  the  power  of  understand- 
ing the  moment  it  arrived  all  that  had  been 
done  before  it.  As  every  funeral  buries  all 
the  traditions  that  a  man  had  heard  in  his 
youth,  and  all  the  experiences  that  he  had 
passed  through  in  his  life,  each  new  genera- 
tion comes  upon  the  scene  entirely  ignorant 
of  the  thing  that  had  gone  before.  There- 
fore, in  order  to  put  them  in  sympathy  with 
it,  there  must  be  instruction  as  to  the  prin- 
ciples and  methods  of  the  institution.  The 
new  generation  must  be  placed  where  they 
can  inhale  and  imbibe  its  spirit. 

32 


Missionary  Society  Achie:ve:me:nts. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  pro- 
pounds the  solemn  question,  ''Will  you  sup- 
port the  enterprises  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church?"  This  is  the  question,  and 
it  has  exactly  about  the  same  weight  with 
the  majority  when  that  is  read — especially 
when  they  don't  know  what  are  the  enter- 
prises— that  is  given  by  some  women  to 
the  solemn  promise  to  obey  that  is  in  some 
marriage  forms.  It  is  the  thing  to  say,  and 
the  subsequent  relations  are  about  a§^  they 
would  be  if  it  had  not  been  said.  So  that  it 
may  be  safe  to  affirm  that  when  he  solemnly 
promises  to  contribute  of  his  substance  ac- 
cording to  his  ability  not  one  in  a  hundred 
knows  what  our  enterprises  are.  Therefore, 
some  institution  or  system  must  be  steadily 
at  work  to  teach  the  coming  generation, 
not  of  the  population,  but  of  the  Church,  so 
that  they  shall  be  imbued  with  a  sympathy 
for  and  a  knowledge  of  this  work.  The 
pastors  do  this  in  part. 
3  33 


Geni^rai,  Survey  and  Home;  Fields. 

Aims  of  the;  Missionary  Society. 

We  have  to  consider  what  the  aims  of 
the  work  are.  The  aims  of  the  work  are 
to  make  men,  by  enhghtening  them,  dissat- 
isfied with  their  own  reHgion. 

Li  Hung  Chang  when  in  this  country 
was  dining  at  the  Waldorf,  and  I  had  the 
honor  to  be  one  of  the  guests,  and  through 
an  interpreter  I  put  this  question  to  the 
great  man :  ''What  do  you  think  of 
the  missions  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  and  the  missionaries?''  And  he 
replied,  ''They  are  a  very  good  class  of 
men;  they  set  a  good  example  to  the  peo- 
ple, and  they  do  a  great  amount  of  good 
and  benevolent  work  in  the  hospitals.''  He 
knew  that  from  his  own  family  experience, 
and  then  he  added  this  remark :  "The 
Chinese  are  satisfied  with  their  religion ; 
they  don't  want  any  other  religion." 

Now,  you  see  that  the  first  thing  a  mis- 
34 


Missionary  Society  Achievements. 

sionary  must  do  is  to  dissatisfy  a  satisfied 
people  with  their  rehgious  ideas.  Also  he 
may  go  into  parts  of  the  world  where  the 
religious  ideas  are  largely  correct,  but  they 
are  interfered  with  and  rendered  nugatory 
by  a  certain  number  of  fundamental  de- 
fects, and  his  business  is  to  make  them  in- 
quire and  then  to  present  the  Gospel  as  a 
substitute. 

But  this  is  not  all :  it  is  necessary  to  se- 
cure the  conversion  of  the  individual  soul. 
My  experience  convinces  me  that  knowl- 
edge without  conviction  and  conversion  is 
the  seed  in  which  infidelity  is  born.  The 
apostle  knew  that  when  he  said,  ''Knowl- 
edge puffeth  up ;"  therefore  it  is  necessary 
so  to  speak,  act,  and  preach  that  those  per- 
sons shall  be  converted,  and  when  they  are 
converted  they  discover  that  there  is  no 
such  thing  as  a  negative  conversion,  and 
there  being  no  such  thing  as  a  negative 
conversion    the    convert    without    coopera- 

35 


Ge:ni:rai.  Survey  and  Home:  Fields. 

tion,  guidance,  and  instruction  will  either 
sink  into  apathy,  take  up  fads,  sink  back 
into  superstitions  or  become  agnostic. 

Hence  the  aims  of  r.ociety  are  to  raise 
moral  tone  wherever  they  go,  and  to  give 
intellectual  education  up  to  the  point  of 
being  able  to  apprehend  the  principles  of 
Protestantism    and    to    think    for    oneself. 

The  difference  between  Roman  Cathol- 
icism, the  Russo-Greek  religion,  and  Prot- 
estantism is  this :  The  first  two  rest  on 
authority,  the  correlative  of  which  is  sub- 
mission. Protestantism,  based  on  the  Bible 
and  experience,  sets  itself  ''to  prove  all 
things,  and  hold  fast  that  which  is  good ;" 
to  examine  those  who  "say  that  they  are 
apostles,  and  are  not,"  says  St.  John,  and 
if  it  be  true  that  they  are  not,  prove  them 
"liars."  Hence,  no  man  can  become  a  true 
Protestant,  especially  if  he  changes  from 
one  religion  to  another,  until  he  is  elevated 
to  a  point  where,  with  the  Bible  in  his  hand, 

36 


Missionary  Socie:ty  Achieve:mi:nts. 

he  can  consider  whether  a  minister  who  is 
preaching  to  him  is  preaching  according  to 
the  word,  and  whether  the  theological  pro- 
fessor in  expounding  conversion  psycholog- 
ically is  preaching  in  harmony  or  teaching 
in  harmony  with  the  work  of  the  Spirit  in 
the  human  soul. 

Beginnings  o^  the  Society's  Work. 

In  estimating  whether  a  missionary  is 
successful  or  not,  it  is  necessary  to  take 
these  deep  questions  into  account.  And 
the  next  question  is,  Can  the  man  with  the 
sublimest  aspiration  carry  out  his  ideals? 
Some  have  the  aims  but  no  means.  An- 
other has  some  means  but  not  enough ;  an- 
other man  has  a  vast  amount  of  means,  he 
has  it  in  profusion ;  another  man  is  so  hap- 
pily constituted  that  he  has  wealth  enough 
to  do  what  he  wishes  to  do.  The  estimate 
of  achievement  depends  upon  a  knowledge 
of  the  aims  or  plans  which  are  proposed, 

Z7 


Ge;ni«;raIv  Survey  and  Homk  Fields. 

of  the  means,  and  the  means  considered  in 
relation  to  the  plans. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was 
only  thirty-five  years  old  when  the  Mis- 
sionary Society  arose.  Its  churches  were 
in  the  first  generation  in  log  cabins  and 
barns,  in  the  majority  of  the  circuits.  It 
had  little  means. 

The  situation  changed  somewhat,  but  not 
generally,  in  the  second  generation.  So  it 
was  when  the  Missionary  Society  was 
formed.  The  people  as  a  whole  did  not 
want  the  Missionary  Society.  They  de- 
clared it  would  distract  attention  from  the 
spirit  and  progress  of  the  Gospel  in  this 
country.  That  was  plausible,  because  con- 
verts multiplied  so  rapidly  that  preachers 
could  not  be  found  to  fill  the  circuits,  es- 
pecially those  who  had  been  ordained,  and, 
besides  that,  many  members  did  not  wish 
to  establish  work  out  of  this  country.  They 
were  quite  ready  to  send  missionaries  to 

38 


Missionary  Society  Achie:ve:ments. 

the  American  Indians  and  to  the  American 
slaves,  but  the  idea  of  leaving-  this  conti- 
nent was  most  repugnant  to  a  large 
majority. 

Eari.y  EivOQUEnT  Se^cretaries. 

One  achievement  of  the  Missionary  So- 
ciety which  I  emphasize  is  this,  that  by  the 
selection  of  their  speakers,  and  by  the  wise 
selection  of  their  corresponding  secretaries, 
they  put  before  the  American  people  such 
eloquence  as  on  matters  of  this  kind  had 
never  been  heard  before  outside  of  New 
England.  John  Summerfield,  George  Cook- 
man,  John  P.  Durbin — and  does  Philadel- 
phia need  to  have  anything  said  about  John 
P.  Durbin  and  his  influence  and  his  pathetic 
and  powerful  eloquence  that  elevated  you, 
and  that  raised  you  higher  and  higher  to- 
ward heaven?  His  great  achievements  as- 
tonished the  country,  and  it  smothered  and 
submerged  opposition. 

39 


GeineraIv  Surve:y  and  Home  Fie:i,ds. 

Busine:ss  and  Administrative:  Strength. 

The  society  by  establishing,  perpetuating, 
fortifying,  and  enlarging  the  missionary 
movements  did  ''great  exploits."  It  carried 
the  cause  through  many  severe  financial 
panics.  All  the  people  that  I  knew  in  my 
boyhood  were  talking  all  the  time  about  the 
panic  of  1837.  Then  there  came  the  tre- 
mendous panic  of  1857,  and  afterward  that 
of  1873,  and  last  of  all  the  slow  but  painful 
stringency  that  began  in  1892.  What  did 
the  Missionary  Society  do  in  those  trying 
times?  It  went  straight  along.  The  Mis- 
sionary Society  by  its  wisdom  carried  its 
business  through  all  those  four  great  panics. 

Besides,  there  were  two  crises  in  the 
country  equally  terrible.  The  first  was 
when  the  denomination  was  bisected  in 
1844.  This,  of  course,  was  a  cause  for 
diminution  of  the  Missionary  Society's  re- 
sources,   especially    the    separation    of   the 

40 


Missionary  Socie:ty  Achieivements. 

Southern  Association,  but  it  did  not  dimin- 
ish our  responsibiHty  to  the  missionaries 
and  to  the  society  and  to  all  the  work  a\ 
that  time.  The  next  was  the  civil  war  of 
four  years'  duration. 

Now,  Mr.  President,  let  me  ask  you 
where  is  the  financial  institution  in  Amer- 
ica, outside  of  the  Missionary  Society,  that 
never  has  anything  on  hand,  that  makes 
promises  for  millions  upon  millions  of  dol- 
lars without  anything  in  the  treasury,  un- 
less it  is  some  small  sum.  The  Missionary 
Society  makes  its  contracts  without  money 
in  the  treasury,  and  does  so  on  its  great 
faith  in  the  members  of  the  society  through- 
out the  country.  It  has  faith  in  two  sorts 
of  providence.  Divine  Providence  and  hu- 
man providence,  and  a  large  section  of 
human  providence  is  comprehended  in 
the  wise  management  of  the  Missionary 
Society,  and  the  loyal  service  of  its 
agents. 

41 


GdneraIv  Survey  and  Home  Fields. 

Great  Success  as  Seen  in  ResuIvTs. 

I  have  now  to  ask  your  attention,  before 
I  close,  to  two  or  three  things  of  vital  im- 
portance, with  regard  to  certain  of  our  for- 
eign fields.  Our  success  reported  from 
China  I  could  hardly  accept  from  Bishop 
Foster  and  Dr.  Leonard  when  they  came 
back,  but  my  own  correspondence  and  con- 
versation with  many  travelers  convinced  me 
that  so  far  from  exaggerating  they  did  not 
because  they  could  not  tell  the  whole. 

With  regard  to  Korea.  There  are  sev- 
eral things  there  you  cannot  possibly  mis- 
interpret. I  will  mention  one.  It  is  in 
reference  to  the  Christian  families  in  that 
country,  concerning  the  age  of  consent 
in  matrimony.  It  is  gradually  going  up 
wherever  our  Church  is  to  be  found. 
They  now  are  in  the  condition  of  dis- 
approving entirely  of  the  old  habit  of 
marrying  girls  at  six,  eight,  and  ten  years 

42 


Missionary  Socie:ty  Achieve;me:nts. 

of  age.  Furthermore,  in  Korea,  under 
the  influence  of  our  own  missions,  and 
other  missions,  there  has  been  a  change, 
and  the  king  of  Korea  has  absolutely 
adopted  the  Sabbath,  and  allows  no  public 
business  to  be  done  on  that  day,  all  result- 
ing from  our  work  credited  to  the  Mis- 
sionary Society.  It  is  this  society  and  the 
men  whom  it  has  sent  which  have  contrib- 
uted largely  to  this  beneficent  end. 

In  doing  this  they  are  aided  greatly  by 
the  newspapers,  and  it  is  so  with  all  the 
papers  and  all  the  ministers  who  are  col- 
lecting the  money.  But  what  keeps  the  edi- 
tors to  their  work,  the  ministers  to  their 
work,  is  chiefly  the  society  and  its  corre- 
sponding and  other  secretaries.  It  is  their 
business  to  do  it,  and  they  do  it  well. 

Of  course  in  the  meetings  of  the  General 
Conference  some  of  the  missions  are  criti- 
cis6d.  A  merchant  may  have  a  large  busi- 
ness, and  may  make  a  profit  of  fifty  thou- 

43 


Ge;ni:rai.  Survey  and  Home  Fields. 

sand  dollars.  That  does  not  prevent  him 
from  saying  that  in  one  part  of  his  work  he 
lost  thirty  thousand  dollars.  The  net  re- 
sults show  a  successful  business,  and  where 
there  was  a  loss  the  next  year  that  class  of 
transactions  should  be  given  up  or  new 
plans  tried.  In  thus  commending  the  so- 
ciety we  do  not  forget  the  Church.  The 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has  done  all 
this,  and  it  has  done  it  by  means  of  the 
Missionary  Society. 

The  Missionary  Society  did  these  things. 
Also  God  did  these  things.  But  neither 
God,  as  he  is  related  to  man  could  have  ac- 
complished these  things  without  a  miracle 
being  wrought  by  him  except  through  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Missionary  Society,  or 
some  analogous  organization.  Nor  is  this 
statement  irreverent,  or  extravagant,  for 
St.  Paul,  that  most  prodigious  worker,  ex- 
claimed, ''We  are  laborers  together  with 
God." 

44 


III. 

SUCCESSES  AND  OPPORTUNI- 
TIES IN  THE  HOME  FIELD. 

By  HENRY  K.   CARROLL,  LL.D. 

I^  the  eighty  milHon  people  of  the  United 
States  were  the  only  people  on  this  planet 
we  could  say  that  the  conversion  of  the 
world  is  already  an  accomplished  fact.  For 
Christianity  is  dominant  here,  and  there  is 
no  other  religion  strong  enough  to  dispute 
its  preeminence.  We  would  not  be  dis- 
turbed by  the  thought  now  burdening  us  so 
painfully,  that  the  most  populous  countries 
of  the  earth  are  heathen  or  pagan,  and  that 
non-Christian  religions  hold  two  thirds  of 
the  world's  population  in  their  grip.     This 

45 


General  Survey  and  Home  Fields. 

overwhelming  fact  shows  that  the  greatest 
task  of  the  Gospel  has  not  been,  but  is  yet 
to  be,  accomplished.  The  task  which  is  be- 
fore us  is  the  greatest  in  magnitude,  but 
not  in  difficulty ;  for  the  nations  great  in 
power  and  prosperity,  in  moral,  intellectual, 
and  social  attainments  are  the  Christian  na- 
tions. It  is  the  Christian  nations  which  con- 
trol the  continents  and  rule  the  world.  It 
has  already  come  to  pass  that  the  kingdoms 
of  this  world  are,  in  a  political  sense,  the 
kingdoms  of  our  Lord  and  of  his  Christ. 
So  it  is  under  favorable  auspices  that  we 
face  the  Gospel's  unaccomplished  work. 
Our  work  is  the  work  of  the  sower  and  the 
reaper ;  the  rest — the  early  and  latter  rains, 
the  sunshine,  the  growth,  the  increase — is 
God's.  We  know  that  where  we  have  sown 
faithfully  we  have  reaped  the  promised  in- 
crease, some  thirty,  some  sixty,  and  some  a 
hundredfold.  The  harvest  has  not  failed 
where  the  seed  has  been  sown;   where  the 

46 


Succe:sse:s  in  the:  Home:  Fie:ld. 

seed  has  not  been  sown  we  have  no  right  to 
expect  a  harvest. 

Mission  Needs  oi^  the  United  States. 

We  have  much  good  ground  in  the 
United  States ;  also  some  which  is  not  very 
productive ;  but  none,  I  beUeve,  which  is 
entirely  barren.  Christianity  has  blos- 
somed beautifully  and  borne  abundantly  in 
the  soil  of  this  country.  It  has  developed  a 
genius  here  for  planting  and  producing,  and 
the  American  type  is,  I  believe,  the  most 
zealous  and  persistent  evangelizing  force 
the  world  has  ever  seen.  Like  the  great 
powers  of  Europe,  it  is  thoroughly  imperi- 
alistic in  policy  and  purpose.  Its  field  is  the 
world,  and  the  world  is  its  field.  And  it 
does  not  interpret  the  world  as  that  which 
lies  beyond  the  limits  of  the  United  States, 
but  as  including  the  United  States.  It  be- 
lieves that  India,  China,  Africa,  and  the 
islands  of  the  sea  are  part  of  the  inherit- 

47 


GdneraIv  Surve;y  and  Home:  Fiei^ds. 

ance  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  that  this  broad 
and  beautiful  home  land  is  equally  so. 
There  are  heathen  here  as  there,  and 
myriads  of  rebels  to  the  kingdom  of  God. 
If  there  are  opportunities  of  transcendent 
importance  abroad,  there  is  work  at  home 
which  appeals  with  no  less  force  to  our  love 
and  loyalty  as  Christians.  If  uncounted 
multitudes  in  foreign  lands  are  dying  in 
ignorance  of  Jesus  Christ  as  the  Saviour  of 
men,  are  there  not  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  our  countrymen  who  are  going  down  to 
destruction  ?  We  do  not  believe  that  in  the 
sight  of  God  it  is  more  meritorious  to  lead 
a  Hindu  to  Christ  than  an  American  sav- 
age ;  nor  that  it  is  better  to  secure  the  con- 
version of  a  Moslem  than  of  a  Mormon ; 
nor  that  it  is  a  more  worthy  service  to  lift 
up  the  degraded  of  other  continents  than  to 
help  the  ''submerged  tenth"  of  our  own 
cities.  We  do  not  admit  the  charge  that 
we  so  believe  and  act. 

48 


Successes  in  the:  Home  Fiei.d. 

No  true  Christian  heart  can  harbor  the 
thought  of  discriminating  against  those  des- 
titute of  Gospel  privileges  in  this  favored 
land.  Here,  if  anywhere,  is  the  fountain 
head  of  Christianity ;  here,  rather  than  in 
Palestine,  is  the  Jerusalem,  the  Judea,  spe- 
cially loved  by  the  Master.  Here  we  have, 
as  fully  as  those  gathered  nineteen  centuries 
ago  in  an  upper  room  in  Jerusalem,  the  pen- 
tecostal  preparation  for  the  conversion  of 
the  world. 

A  New  Pentecostai.  Opportunity. 

Indeed,  this  is  the  meeting  place  of  the 
nations  and  peoples  of  the  world.  In  that 
upper  chamber  in  Jerusalem  they  spoke 
many  tongues.  Here  as  there,  every  man 
may  hear  the  Gospel  in  his  own  tongue. 
Strangers  are  gathering  on  our  shores  from 
every  quarter  of  the  globe.  We  have  not 
simply  a  congress,  we  have  a  concourse,  of 
the  nations.  No  population  under  the  sun 
4  49 


Gi;ne:raIv  Surve:y  and  Home  Fiei^ds. 

is  so  cosmopolitan  as  ours,  and  in  giving  the 
Gospel  so  freely  to  all  classes  we  are  prepar- 
ing for  the  conversion  of  the  world  no  less 
in  kind  if  not  in  degree  than  by  the  mission- 
aries we  sent  abroad.  Who  can  measure  the 
greatness  of  the  opportunity  to  evangelize 
Europe,  Asia,  Africa,  in  the  United  States  ? 
Who  can  tell  us  what  unfortunate  results 
will  follow  if  we  fail  to  meet  the  opportu- 
nity promptly?  Who  is  willing  to  assume 
the  responsibility  of  hindering  the  coming 
of  the  kingdom  of  God? 

That  which  should  be  done  seems  even 
more  important  t)ian  that  which  has  been 
done.  Wonders  have  been  wrought  by  di- 
vine grace  through  the  efforts  of  the 
Church ;  but  the  Church  of  to-day  is  much 
stronger  than  the  Church  of  fifty  years  ago, 
having  more  men  and  better  trained  men ; 
more  money,  infinitely  larger  material  re- 
sources. Should  we  not  be  willing  to  un- 
dertake greater  things  for  God? 

50 


Succe;ssi:s  in  thd  Home:  Fie;i.d. 

Frontier  Problems  Past  and  Present. 

Our  fathers  dealt  with  the  problems  of 
the  frontier  and  of  the  evangelization  of  the 
rough  and  hardy  pioneers  who  pushed  our 
empire  farther  and  farther  into  the  wilder- 
ness of  the  West.  What  glorious  triumphs 
they  achieved  for  Christianity !  The  battle 
for  God  and  country  and  civilization  was 
won  long  ago.  The  frontiers  and  the  fron- 
tiersmen are  gone.  Our  vast  expanse  of 
territory  has  no  lines,  north  or  south,  east 
or  west,  beyond  which  is  wilderness  waiting 
for  the  hand  of  man  to  subdue  it  to  his  will. 
Lines  of  travel  end  nowhere,  but  reach 
round  the  earth  like  the  meridians  and  par- 
allels. But  frontier  conditions  may  still  be 
found  in  the  newer  States  and  Territories, 
to  which  the  flow  of  population  is  tending. 
In  the  Rocky  Mountain  region  and  on  the 
Pacific  slope  a  single  Conference  may  cover 
an  empire  of  territory,  a  district  may  be 

51 


Gendrai,  Surv£:y  and  Home  Fields. 

made  up  of  magnificent  distances,  and  a  cir- 
cuit include  points  scores  of  miles  apart. 
The  struggles  there  are  as  heroic  as  any 
that  the  Church  of  Asbury  or  Hedding  saw. 
The  itinerants  who  serve  now  are  as  brave, 
as  devoted,  as  hardy,  as  self-sacrificing  as 
any  the  Church  ever  had.  They  are  laying 
with  their  hearts'  blood  the  foundation  of 
churches,  of  colleges,  of  hospitals,  and  other 
necessary  institutions,  suffering  all  things, 
withholding  nothing,  counting  not  their 
lives  dear  unto  them.  The  next  generation 
will  enter  into  their  labors.  The  cry  of 
these  heroes  for  help  is  a  pitiful  cry,  and 
they  cry  not  for  themselves,  but  for  the 
work's  sake,  that  it  may  be  extended.  In 
the  mountains  of  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  the 
Virginias,  and  North  Carolina,  as  well  as  in 
the  wide  West,  the  kingdom  of  Christ  is  be- 
ing slowly  built  up  among  a  people  to  whom 
the  things  of  God  are  as  treasures  just 
brought  to  light. 

52 


Succi:sse:s  in  the  Home  Field. 

These  frontier  conditions  should  appeal  to 
the  Church  for  a  consecration  of  means  that 
will  compare  with  the  consecration  of  life 
which  the  modern  itinerant  so  freely  makes. 
And  means  so  consecrated  are  not  given 
away,  but  invested.  Later  they  will  yield 
large  returns.  Fifty  years  ago  Kansas  was 
a  frontier  State,  entirely  home  missionary 
ground,  with  not  a  half  dozen  self-support- 
ing churches  within  its  bounds.  During 
that  period  Kansas  has  returned  to  the  mis- 
sionary treasury  the  full  amount  invested, 
and  its  four  Conferences  now  have  a  bal- 
ance on  the  credit  side  of  the  account.  Last 
year  they  received  in  appropriations  from 
the  Missionary  Society  $14,500,  and  gave  in 
collections  $31,128.  So  it  will  be  with  other 
home  missionary  territory.  The  bread  cast 
upon  the  waters  will  come  back  again  after 
many  days.  We  are  but  sowing  for  a  plen- 
teous harvest  when  we  faithfully  care  for 
these  fields, 

53 


Ge:ni:rai,  Survky  and  Ho^ie:  Fiei^ds. 

American  Indian  Evangeuzation. 

The  pagans  native  to  our  soil,  who  were 
here  before  we  came  and  may  be  here  after 
we  are  gone,  were  regarded  by  our  fathers 
as  of  the  inheritance  of  Jesus  Christ,  and 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  and  gracious  re- 
vivals of  our  history  began  among  them  un- 
der the  labors  of  a  converted  negro  drunk- 
ard, John  Stewart,  a  revival  which  was  to 
spread  among  many  tribes  and  to  result  in 
thousands  of  Indian  members.  We  seem 
in  these  days  to  have  lost  our  enthusiasm 
for  Indian  missionary  work,  if  not  our  in- 
terest in  it.  And  yet  though  the  half  million 
Indian  population  of  fifty  years  ago  has 
fallen  to  half  that  number,  there  is  still  op- 
portunity to  work  among  them.  I  fear  that 
some  of  us  have  come  to  believe  that  this  is 
an  unimportant  field  for  Christian  endeavor, 
and  that  the  command  to  preach  the  Gospel 
to  every  creature  applies  with  less  force  and 

54 


Succe;sse:s  in  the  Home  Field. 

urgency  in  their  case  than  in  any  other. 
And  yet  the  Master  enforced  the  thought 
that  any  true  follower  of  his  must  love  his 
neighbor.  He  is  not  only  in  our  Territories 
and  the  newer  settled  sections,  he  is  also  in 
our  oldest  States.  His  moral  condition 
everywhere  shows  how  supreme  is  the  need 
of  the  Gospel.  We  do  not  profess  to  believe 
the  unchristian  cynicism,  ''There  is  no  good 
Indian  but  a  dead  Indian."  Our  own  In- 
dian converts  for  a  hundred  years  give  the 
lie  to  the  dishonored  saying.  The  Gospel 
has  not  failed  among  the  Indians  where  it 
has  been  faithfully  and  lovingly  presented. 
Three  years  ago  I  was  in  Montana  and  had 
opportunity  for  full  conference  with  that 
veteran  missionary,  F.  A.  Riggin,  who  for 
a  few  years  has  been  working  among  the 
Indians  at  Browning.  I  wish  you  could 
hear  him  tell  his  story  of  the  triumphs  of 
the  Gospel  among  the  thousand  or  more  In- 
dians under  his  care.    How  they  are  aban- 

55 


Ge:ni:rai,  Survi:y  and  Home;  Fie:i.ds. 

doning  their  old  pagan  rites  and  customs, 
burying  their  dead  instead  of  exposing 
them,  coming  to  the  minister  for  Christian 
service  at  funerals  and  for  Christian  mar- 
riage, laying  aside  the  blanket  for  the  cloth- 
ing of  the  paleface,  sending  their  boys  and 
girls  to  school,  introducing  sewing  machines 
into  their  wigwams,  and  showing  in  many 
ways  the  transforming  influence  of  the  Gos- 
pel of  the  Son  of  God. 

Degraded,  dissolute,  treacherous  the  In- 
dian may  be,  where  the  wrong  side  of  Chris- 
tian civilization  has  been  toward  him ;  but 
the  inward  vision  of  the  Great  Spirit  has 
not  been  denied  him,  and  both  the  Indian 
mind  and  the  Indian  heart  are  susceptible  of 
the  highest  culture.  We  have  a  missionary 
school  at  Unalaska,  or  rather  not  we,  but 
the  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society 
(our  Parent  Society  has  no  work  of  any 
kind  among  the  Indians  of  Alaska,  our 
* 'sphere   of   influence,"   Unalaska  and   the 

S6 


Successes  in  the  Home  FieIvD. 

Aleutian  Islands  being  left  entirely  to  wom- 
en). In  that  mission  school  some  years  ago 
a  gentleman  interested  in  Alaska  mines  saw 
an  Aleut  girl  who  somehow  stirred  his 
Christian  sympathy.  Her  father  was  dead, 
and  her  mother  was  ignorant,  dissolute,  de- 
graded. This  gentleman  wished  to  see  what 
could  be  done  for  the  child  away  from  her 
mother,  and  where  she  could  have  every 
possible  advantage.  So  he  took  her  to  Chi- 
cago and  put  her  in  the  best  public  school 
he  could  find.  It  was  a  severe  test.  But 
she  stood  it  so  well  among  a  thousand  or 
more  bright  American  children  that  when 
she  finished  in  five  years  she  was  at  the 
head  of  the  school,  taking  the  gold  medal 
from  all  competitors,  including  the  daughter 
of  the  president  of  the  Board  of  Education. 
Another  Indian  girl  of  Sitka,  educated  in 
New  Jersey,  has  gone  back  to  Alaska  as  a 
benefactress  of  her  race.  She  has  made  a 
grammar  and   dictionary   of  the   Thlinget 

57 


Gendrai,  Surve:y  and  Home:  Fiei^ds. 

language,  reducing  it  for  the  first  time  to  a 
written  form. 

Surely  we  may  not  continue  to  neglect  the 
many  opportunities  offered  us  among  the 
scattered  remnants  of  the  great  tribes  which 
were  lords  of  the  soil  when  the  Pilgrim 
forefathers  landed  to  set  up  the  kingdom 
of  Christ  in  the  new  continent. 

C1.AIMS  o^  the:  Colore:d  Rack. 

The  black  man  has  claims  upon  us  to 
which  we  cannot  be  indifferent.  He  consti- 
tutes more  than  a  tenth  of  our  population, 
and  he  is  not  dying  out  like  the  red  man, 
nor  committing  race  suicide  like  the  white 
man,  but  is  increasing  and  multiplying.  The 
negro  is  often  called  an  inferior  race.  I 
should  rather  say  a  race  in  an  inferior  con- 
dition. It  is  emerging  from  a  state  of  vas- 
salage. The  negro  is  not  stern,  taciturn, 
unimpressionable  like  the  Indian ;  but  a 
most  facile  follower,  easily  persuaded,  and, 

58 


Succe:sses  in  the:  Home:  Fiei^d. 

left  to  his  own  passions  and  the  evil  influ- 
ence  of  his  white  neighbor,  an  unprofitable 
citizen,  a  tempting  prey  for  the  oppressor. 
My  heart  was  touched  a  few  months  ago  as 
I  heard  in  one  of  our  colored  Conferences 
in  the  far  South  a  temperate  recital  of  the 
wrongs,  nay,  the  crimes,  committed  against 
the  colored  man,  and  listened  to  the  low, 
agonized  cries  of  the  hearers,  "How  long, 
O  Lord,  how  long?"  The  speaker  said  a 
new  Gospel  was  needed,  a  new  mission  must 
be  organized  to  correct  these  crimes  against 
his  race.  I  was  permitted  to  express  my 
sympathy,  and  to  say  that  no  new  Gospel 
is  necessary;  the  old,  old  Gospel  of  peace 
on  earth,  good  will  to  men,  with  its  injunc- 
tion to  do  no  wrong,  to  love  thy  neighbor  as 
thyself,  and  with  its  unbroken  table  of  com- 
mandments, is  more  than  sufficient.  I  told 
them  that  no  new  mission  needed  to  be 
organized,  the  mission  of  a  free  and  full 
salvation  is  enough ;    but  a  more  faithful 

59 


General  Survey  and  Home  Fields. 

discharge  of  the  trust  committed  to  us,  a 
wider  spreading  of  the  doctrine  of  scriptural 
holiness,  the  inculcation  of  a  faith  that  is 
justified  by  the  fruits  of  the  life — this  is 
what  the  emergency  demands.  The  unspeak- 
able crimes  of  brutish  natures  beget  the 
inexcusable  crimes  of  fiendish  vengeance, 
and  the  morale  of  society  is  irretrievably 
injured,  and  the  plague  is  not  stayed,  but 
spreads,  and  the  unholy  contagion  suddenly 
breaks  the  peace  and  order  of  communities 
where  it  is  least  expected.  Do  we  not  be- 
lieve that  the  Gospel  is  the  remedy,  the  only 
sure  and  sufficient  remedy,  for  these  hor- 
rible outbreaks  that  shame  us  in  the  eyes  of 
the  civilized  world?  Then  let  us,  in  the 
name  of  our  crucified  and  glorified  Lord, 
apply  it  with  all  the  zeal,  earnestness,  facul- 
ties, and  facilities  at  our  command,  support- 
ing our  missionary  and  educational  work 
among  the  affected  populations  from  the 
abundant  and  not  overtaxed  resources  of 

60 


Succe:sse:s  in  the:  Home:  Fie:i.d. 

the  Church.  It  is  the  cheapest  way  in  the 
end  of  solving  the  race  problem,  for  where 
men  can  say  as  Christians,  "We  are  breth- 
ren," no  poHce  power  will  be  necessary  to 
constrain  them  to  dwell  in  peace  and  unity. 

Ci^EANSiNG  the:  Mormon  Plague:  Spot. 

Carlyle  included  Mohammed  in  his  list  of 
the  world's  heroes,  but  pronounced  no  pane- 
gyric on  the  polygamous  Turk  who  loves 
the  Christians  so  that  he  would  be  glad  to 
massacre  the  last  one  of  them.  The  Mor- 
mon professes  to  be  Christian,  but  we  have 
almost  as  much  faith  in  the  religion  of 
Moslem  as  in  that  of  Mormon.  The  tenets 
of  Mormonism  that  identify  it  with  Chris- 
tianity are  fewer  than  those  which  ally  it  to 
Mohammedanism.  The  Moslem  proclaims 
one  God  as  does  the  Christian,  but  the  Mor- 
mon asserts  many.  His  religion  is  blas- 
phemous, degrades  womanhood,  exalts  the 
fleshly  principle  of  sex,  and  enthrones  a 

6i 


Gi^NDRAi.  Surv£:y  and  Home;  Fi£:lds. 

priestly  power  as  absolute  as  was  that  of  the 
savage  Aztecs.  Moreover,  its  foundations 
were  laid  in  fraud,  and  its  history  is  fraught 
with  violence  and  crime.  Enthroned  on  the 
heights  of  the  continent  and  spreading  its 
wild  and  withering  influence  over  a  widen- 
ing section  of  territory,  it  is  a  menace  to  the 
peace,  social  order,  and  well-being  of  this 
republic.  Bishop  Fowler  says,  "The  Chris- 
tian Church  has  as  definite  a  mission  in 
Utah  as  it  has  in  any  heathen  land."  Our 
missionaries  and  teachers  go  among  the 
Mormons  in  no  spirit  of  compromise.  We 
do  not  tell  them  that  they  can  continue  to  be 
Mormons  and  yet  be  saved  as  Christians. 
We  say  to  converts,  "Come  ye  out  from 
among  them  and  be  ye  separate."  In  our 
Churches  are  many  witnesses  of  the  falsity 
of  the  saying,  "Once  a  Mormon  always  a 
Mormon."  There  is,  I  venture  to  say,  not 
a  field  in  Asia,  Africa,  or  anywhere  else  in 
the  world  so  hard  for  missionaries  as  this 

62 


Successes  in  the  Home  Fiei.d. 

Mormon  field.  The  raw  heathen  of  the 
Dark  Continent  are  not  more  inaccessible. 
The  Mormons  are  joined  to  their  idols,  but 
we  cannot,  we  dare  not,  let  them  alone.  We 
must  besiege  them  in  their  well-nigh  invin- 
cible bigotry  of  belief,  pierce  their  thick 
armor  of  prejudice,  and  show  them  that  the 
Christianity  they  profess  has  no  resem- 
blance to  the  "truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus." 
Christians  sometimes  talk  as  though  we 
ought  to  abandon  our  attempt  to  reach  the 
Mormons,  because  the  results  have  been. so 
small  in  comparison  to  the  outlay. 

If  through  our  efforts  a  few  souls  have 
been  brought  into  the  light,  why  not  add  to 
our  little  force  of  workers  and  bring  more 
souls  into  the  kingdom?  Mormonism  is 
strong  to  resist  because  of  its  solidarity ; 
but  it  is  not  so  powerful  as  it  was  before 
railroads  and  public  schools  and  other  anti- 
Mormon  influences  were  admitted  to  begin 
the   work  of   disintegration.     It   dares   no 

63 


G]]:NE:RAr,  Surve:y  and  Home  Fields. 

longer  flaunt  its  polygamy  before  an  indig- 
nant nation,  but  hides  its  practices  as  it 
hides  the  hideous  secrets  of  the  Endowment 
House.  The  break  must  come  sooner  or 
later,  and  when  it  comes  it  will  be  the  begin- 
ning of  the  inevitable  end.  I  believe  that  it 
has  seen  more  than  half  its  days,  and  that 
it  will  pass  out  of  the  public  view  as  the 
odious  Oneida  Community  disappeared  and 
leave  only  an  unsavory  memory  behind. 

Reaching  Our  Foreign  Peopi^es. 

What  an  inspiring  chapter  could  be  writ- 
ten of  our  successes  among  the  foreigners 
who  have  sought  our  shores  to  escape  the 
tyranny  and  oppression  of  Old  World  pow- 
ers, or  the  grinding  poverty  of  Old  World 
economic  conditions?  They  come,  millions 
upon  millions  of  them,  and  they  never  go 
back.  As  President  Harrison  said,  the 
doors  of  Castle  Garden  do  not  swing  out- 
ward.    Some  come  as  Christians,  but  too 

64 


Successes  in  the  Home  Fiei.d. 

fast  to  be  properly  cared  for  by  their  own 
denominations ;  some  have  only  a  dim  reli- 
gious light  to  whom  evangelical  truth  is 
virtually  unknown ;  some  are  pagans  and 
observe  rites  which  are  strange  to  this 
Christian  land ;  some  have  practically  no 
religion,  and  some  scorn  and  reject  both 
divine  and  human  law  and  government. 
Love  to  God  and  loyalty  to  country  have 
drawn  us  farther  and  farther  into  this  at- 
tractive field  of  missionary  endeavor,  and 
nothing  seems  more  imperative  to-day  than 
to  press  this  work  to  the  utmost.  It  is  a 
part  but  not  all  of  the  City  Problem  which 
confronts  us,  with  its  complications  and  per- 
plexities. From  the  populous  centers  the 
foreign  elements  are  being  crowded  into 
smaller  cities  and  towns,  and  even  into  vil- 
lages. Italians  are  swarming  along  rail- 
road lines,  and  wherever  public  improve- 
ments are  in  progress,  and  Italian  groceries 
as  well  as  fruit  and  tobacco  shops  are  be- 
5  65 


Ge:ne:rai,  Survey  and  Home  FieivDS. 

ginning  to  appear  in  small  communities. 
The  wave  is  spreading,  and  we  must  be  pre- 
pared for  it  in  city  and  in  country,  in  mining 
and  in  manufacturing  communities.  We 
can  do  this  work  here  more  cheaply  and 
effectively  than  we  can  in  Italy  and  Austria, 
and  other  European  countries.  The  stream 
shows  no  signs  of  lessening;  it  is  rather 
growing,  and  we  must  prepare  for  a  much 
greater  work  than  any  we  have  hitherto 

imagined. 

Porto  Rico. 

Some  of  this  work  at  home  must  be  done 
quickly,  if  it  is  to  be  done  most  advanta- 
geously. In  Porto  Rico,  for  example,  the 
King's  business  requires  haste.  We  are  at 
the  turn  of  the  tide.  The  chains  of  super- 
stition and  prejudice  are  broken  for  the  mo- 
ment, as  it  were,  and  the  shameful  ineffi- 
ciency and  neglect  O"*^  the  only  Church  the 
people  have  hitherto  known  appears  in  a 
strong  light.     These  primitive  people  seem 

66 


Successes  in  the;  Home  Field. 

to  think  they  cannot  be  good  Americans  un- 
less they  become  Protestants,  and  they  want 
to  be  good  Americans.  The  old  Church  is 
hampered,  and  moves  slowly  into  the  unac- 
customed line  of  self-support.  The  spell  of 
the  priest  has  lost  its  power,  apparently,  but 
in  time  it  may  again  become  dominant. 
Now  is  the  hour  for  a  supreme  effort  among 
the  million  Porto  Ricans.  The  island  may 
be  converted  to  a  living,  transforming,  en- 
nobling faith  in  the  next  decade,  if  the  evan- 
gelical Christians  of  the  United  States 
are  ready  for  a  supreme  endeavor.  We 
might  place  fifty  workers  there,  if  we 
would,  and  gather  a  rich  harvest  of  souls. 
The  successes  already  achieved  warrant 
such  an  expectation ;  and  the  opportunity 
is  so  great  that  the  moment  is  golden. 

Everywhere  in  our  home  land  fields  are 
ripe.  Shall  we  thrust  in  and  reap,  or  shall 
there  be  a  great  and  eternal  waste  ? 

67 


Gene:raIv  Survey  and  Home  Fields. 

Christ  welcomed  the  crowds  that  flocked 
to  his  preaching,  and  dealt  gently,  lov- 
ingly, and  sympathetically  with  them.  He 
scourged  the  scribes  and  Pharisees  with 
whips  of  sharp  words  because  they  were  not 
what  they  pretended  to  be;  but  he  used  a 
different  method  with  the  curious,  careless, 
shiftless  crowd  who  made  no  profession  of 
goodness.  He  gave  them  the  Gospel  of  love 
and  salvation,  while  he  called  those  who 
should  have  been  their  religious  leaders 
sternly  to  account  for  lost  opportunities. 
Let  it  not  be  said  of  us  that,  knowing  the 
truth  and  professing  to  be  .Christ's  disci- 
ples, we  neglect  the  opportunities  he  so 
abundantly  and  marvelously  gives  us  to 
preach  the  Gospel  to  the  needy  multitudes 
in  our  own  land.  For  lost  opportunities, 
God  help  us,  mean  lost  souls,  and  for  lost 
souls  which  we  might  have  saved  we  must 

give  account  in  the  day  of  judgment! 

68 


IV. 

DIFFICULTIES 

AT  HOME    IN  THE  WORLD'S 

EVANGELIZATION. 

By  REV.  JAMES  M.   KING,  D.D. 

Di^^iGUiyTiES  in  the  way  of  evangeliza- 
tion of  the  people  in  this  home  land  of  ours, 
which  constitutes  so  important  a  part  of  the 
world  to  be  evangelized,  and  the  incidental 
bearing  of  these  difficulties  on  the  evan- 
gelization of  the  world  presuppose  obstacles 
to  be  recognized  and  removed.  To  evan- 
gelize is  to  convert  to  Christianity  through 
the  doctrines  and  precepts  of  the  Gospel. 
What  are  some  of  the  obstacles  which  here 
inject  difficulties  into  the  solution  of  the 
problem  of  the  world's  evangelization? 

Before  enumerating  some  of  the  difficul- 

69 


General  Survey  and  Home  Fields. 

ties,  which  will  be  patent  to  all,  in  the  way 
of  evangelizing  this  home  land,  I  desire  to 
speak  plainly  concerning  what  I  esteem  to 
be  one  of  the  chief  obstacles,  if  not  the  chief 
barrier,  in  the  path  of  the  progress  of  evan- 
gelical Christianity.  And  I  propose  to 
speak  all  the  more  plainly  because  of  what 
I  esteem  to  be  the  excuseless  sensitiveness 
upon  the  subject. 

Protestantism  and  Romanism. 

The  first  difficulty.  We  see  an  emascu- 
lated, hypnotized,  compromising,  and  cow- 
ardly Protestantism  in  the  face  of  Roman- 
ism. Protestantism  either  is  an  abiding 
protest  against  the  mummeries  and  blas- 
phemous assumptions  of  Romanism  or  it  is 
stealing  an  heroic,  historic,  and  pregnant 
name  as  a  guise  for  a  respectability  to  which 
it  has  no  honest  claim. 

The  recent  fulsome  eulogies  of  the  late 
Leo  XIII  by  Protestants,  and  notably  by 

70 


DiFi^icuivTiKS  AT  Home;. 

Methodist  preachers,  have  furnished  both 
an  amusing  and  a  nauseating  spectacle.  The 
attacks  on  Protestantism,  and  especially  on 
Methodism,  in  Rome  and  in  Italy  by  the 
pope  are  notorious,  and  these  seekers  after 
popularity  or  notoriety  have  secured  the  end 
of  their  search  by  putting  obstacles  in  the 
path  of  honest  and  trusting  believers.  This 
eulogized  pope  claimed  to  be  the  vicar  of 
Christ  on  the  earth,  claimed  infallibility, 
and  was  absolutely,  from  childhood  to 
death,  under  Jesuit  education  and  control, 
with  a  reign  as  intolerant  as  any  of  his  pred- 
ecessors for  a  century.  The  papal  religion 
means  bondage,  degradation,  darkness.  The 
Protestant  Reformation,  warring  against 
antichrist,  purchased  for  us  all  of  our  civil 
and  religious  liberties  at  great  cost  of  blood 
and  martyrdom.  The  papacy  perverts  the 
Gospel  and  the  pope  heads  the  perversion. 
It  is  not  the  province  of  Protestantism, 
when  it  remembers  its  heredity,  to  take  to 

71 


GeneraIv  Survey  and  Home  Fiei^ds. 

its  bosom  a  serpent  and  warm  the  viper  into 
life  that  it  may  use  with  vigor  its  deadly 
sting. 

Sel^-respect  Needed. 

O,  my  brethren,  is  the  Protestantism  of 
our  times  bereft  of  its  reason?  Is  it  ashamed 
of  its  heredity?  Let  us  pray  for  a  baptism 
of  self-respect,  of  common  honesty  and 
common  sense.  And  while  we  exercise 
charity  toward  all  men  let  not  our  charity 
furnish  a  mantle  to  cover  sin  or  provide  a 
dagger  for  the  assassination  of  Christian 
faith.  If  the  utterances  of  many  Protestant 
preachers  are  true,  then  let  us  be  honest 
enough  to  withdraw  our  missionaries  from 
Roman  Catholic  countries  and  tell  the  peo- 
ple whose  money  we  have  taken  for  mis- 
sionary work  in  these  countries  that  we 
have  defrauded  them,  and  promptly  return 
their  money  to  them.  This  will  be  simply 
common  honesty.  But,  if  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic   Church   has   been   in   history,   and   is 

72 


Dii^i?icui.tie:s  at  Home:. 

to-day,  a  politico-ecclesiastical  conspiracy 
against  the  liberties  of  mankind,  let  us  say 
so.  Let  us  have  some  authoritative  and 
clear  statement  of  the  distinctive  differences 
of  doctrine  between  Protestantism  and 
Romanism.  Unquestioned  belief  in  some- 
thing vital  and  necessary  to  salvation  is  in- 
dispensable.    ' 

The  kind  of  Christian  faith  that  sees  no 
difference  between  Protestantism  and  Ro- 
manism possesses  no  virility  in  conviction, 
and  consequently  no  spirit  of  sacrifice.  The 
laudation  of  the  character  and  work  of  Leo 
XIII  with  all  he  represented  is  the  result 
either  of  an  ignorant  or  spineless  conception 
of  Christianity. 

Demorauzation  Should  Be  Che:cke:d. 

The  power  of  Romanism  in  this  land, 
upon  politicians,  Protestants,  preachers  and 
people,  has  reached  a  dangerous  pass  so  far 
as  genuine  Christianity  is  concerned. 

73 


G^N^RAi,  Survi:y  and  Homd  Fidlds. 

Romanism  does  not  believe  in  Christian 
evangelization,  and  yet  Protestantism,  be- 
lieving in  Christian  evangelization,  compro- 
mises and  cowers  before  its  brazen  oppo- 
nent. What  Protestantism  needs,  if  it  is  to 
evangelize  this  home  land  and  the  world,  is 
a  new  baptism  of  conviction  of  truth  and  the 
courage  of  conviction.  It  needs  a  modern 
Luther  to  face  the  modern  Diet  composed 
of  suppliant  slaves  and  truckling  cowards 
and  conscienceless  compromisers  of  the 
same  ilk  as  their  predecessors  of  the  Diet 
at  Worms,  and  defy  them,  and  who  will 
nail  to  the  doors  of  the  temples  of  liberty 
and  of  churches  and  cathedrals  the  papal 
bulls  against  civil  and  religious  liberty ; 
against  the  rights  of  private  judgment; 
against  evangelical  movements;  against  the 
distribution  of  the  Bible  among  the  people ; 
against  the  uniform  free  elementary  educa- 
tion of  the  children  and  youth  of  the  na- 
tions; against  the  separation  of  the  Church 

74 


Dl^I^ICUIvTlES  AT  HOMK. 

from  the  State ;  and  against  all  human  prog- 
ress not  under  the  baleful  control  of  the 
ludicrous  "  prisoner  of  the  Vatican." 

The  hereditary  and  deluded  adherents  of 
Romanism  should  be  treated  with  charity 
and  shown  a  better  way,  but  Romanism,  as 
a  system  of  religion,  and  its  head  and  propa- 
gators should  be  resisted,  and  their  blasphe- 
mous assumptions  exposed  and  condemned, 
in  the  interests  of  both  Christian  civilization 
and  evangelical  Christianity. 

Christ  Ai^oni:  Supri:mk. 

Christ  alone  is  supreme  in  this  world. 
Let  every  person  or  power  that  assumes  to 
come  between  him  and  the  souls  he  died  to 
redeem  get  out  of  the  way  or  be  crushed. 
The  hands  and  feet  which  still  bear  the  nail- 
prints  have  no  successors  in  this  world  to 
be  kissed  by  deluded,  superstitious,  and  idol- 
atrous worshipers. 

This  continent  came  near  being  the  heir 
7S 


General  Survey  and  Home  Fields. 

of  a  mediaeval  Spanish  or  Latin  civilization, 
but  English  law  and  Anglo-Saxon  civiliza- 
tion finally  triumphed  and  then  American 
civilization  improved  on  the  English  type. 
But  dangers  threaten  our  evangelical  Chris- 
tianity, our  civil  liberties  and  our  Christian 
civilization,  which  can  only  be  overcome  by 
planting  the  genuine  free  Church  of  Christ 
in  advance  of  the  incoming  tide  of  foreign 
peoples.  These  are  the  arsenals  of  our 
might,  the  armories  of  God's  militant 
hosts.  But  while  the  Church  continues  free 
there  are  some  dangerous  indications  that 
the  State  is  being  bound  by  a  politico- 
ecclesiastical  tyranny. 

Historically  and  by  judicial  precedent  un- 
sectarian  Christianity  is  the  common  law  of 
this  land.  We  are  counted  a  Christian  na- 
tion. But  the  sequence  of  these  facts  must 
never  issue  in  the  bondage  of  the  Church  to 
the  State,  or  of  the  State  to  the  Church  by 
political,  ecclesiastical,  or  treasury  ties. 

76 


Di^i^icui.tie;s  at  Home;. 

Other  Difficulties. 

The  second  difficulty  is  ignorance  of,  and 
consequent  indifference  to,  the  necessity, 
scope,  and  character  of  home  missions'. 

The  third  difficulty  is  the  italicized  inter- 
rogation which  the  commercialism  of  Chris- 
tian men  has  admitted  into  their  faith; 
which  asks,  "Do  missions  pay?" 

The  fourth  difficulty  is  a  sentimental  op- 
timism which  ignores  but  does  not  remove 
obstacles,  while  it  juggles  with  figures  to 
mathematically  demonstrate  progress  with- 
out converting  souls,  as  it  thus  numbers 
Israel. 

Lax  Religious  Belief. 

The  fifth  difficulty  is  the  facts  embodied 
in  what  Goldwin  Smith  has  recently  said : 
"What  is  the  proposition  most  momentous 
of  all  ?  Science  and  criticism  combined  ap- 
pear to  be  undermining  the  foundations  of 
religious  belief  by  which,  in  the  mass  of 

77 


General  Survey  and  Home  Fields. 

men,  conscience  has  hitherto  been  so  largely 
supported." 

As  the  legitimate  result  of  this  condition 
there  is  satisfaction  with  reformation  in- 
stead of  regeneration,  and  a  strengthless 
type  of  Christian  experience  and  character 
prevails.  There  are  unsettled  conditions 
and  beliefs  concerning  fundamental  and 
saving  truths ;  there  is  compromising  with 
sin  and  sinful  conditions  for  the  sake  of 
temporary  peace;  there  is  indifference 
caused  by  the  loss  of  faith  among  the  com- 
mon people  in  the  Scriptures,  which  are  not 
recognized  as  the  final  judgment  seat  for 
conscience.  Multitudes  have  no  settled  be- 
lief in  the  immortality  of  the  soul.  The  reli- 
gious thought  and  conscience  of  the  people 
are  being  confused  by  discussions  con- 
cerning the  authority  of  the  Scriptures ;  and 
so  long  as  thought  and  conscience  are  dis- 
tracted the  concentration  of  thought  and  the 
candor  of  conscience  essential  to  conviction 

78 


Dii^i^icuivTiES  AT  Home:. 

for  sin  are  impossible.  Men  will  neither  be- 
lieve in  the  duty  of  living  a  self-sacrificing 
life  nor  in  the  duty  of  devoting  their  lives 
to  the  propagation  of  Christian  truth  unless 
they  have  unshaken  confidence  in  the  Holy 
Book  as  the  v^ord  of  God. 

There  is  practical  unbelief  in  blood  atone- 
ment.  Men  believe  in  the  venal  nature  of 
sin.  Assaults  are  made  upon  the  divinity  of 
our  Lord  by  so-called  Christian  teachers  and 
preachers  when  concededly  a  divine  Christ 
is  indispensable  to  aggressive  Christianity. 

There  is  laxity  in  the  definition  and  in  the 
preaching  of  the  fundamental  doctrines  of 
Scripture.  There  is  much  preaching  about 
the  Gospel  instead  of  preaching  the  Gospel. 
Failure  to  recognize  the  difference  between 
these  two  preachings  is  the  prolific  parent 
of  indifferentism  and  apathy,  and  they  are 
the  legitimate  children  of  such  parentage. 
There  are  unsolved  social  and  religious 
problems  of  our  boasted  Christian  civiliza- 

79 


G^NKRAi.  Surve:y  and  Home:  Fi^iyDs. 

tion;  forms  of  decline  of  family  religion, 
largely  due  to  delegating  the  care  and  in- 
struction of  childhood  to  hired  menials ; 
interdenominational  rivalries  and  controver- 
sies among  Protestants,  wasting  strength 
and  resources  which  ought  to  be  expended 
in  aggressive  evangelism. 

True  Gospel  Bread. 

The  sixth  difficulty  is  magnifying  socio- 
logical theories  and  institutional  Church 
methods  to  the  belittling  of  distinctively  re- 
ligious work,  thus  putting  a  premium  on  re- 
ligious indifference  which  inevitably  breeds 
apathy.  The  Church  has  no  sociological  re- 
lation to  the  people  and  never  had,  other 
than  its  relation  as  a  disseminator  of  the 
Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  as  the  remedy  for  all 
evils ;  an  enlightened  expediency  in  the 
method  of  applying  the  remedy  prescribed 
by  this  Gospel  is  all  that  is  delegated  to  us. 

The  weary  and  sin-cursed  heart  of  man  is 
80 


Dii^FicuLTiES  AT  Home;. 

hungry  for  the  Bread  of  Life,  the  spiritual 
food,  and  cares  little  for  the  sociological 
microscope  and  the  scholastic  scalpel.  It  is 
famishing  for  bread,  and  not  for  treatises 
on  the  chemistry  of  bread-making.  Don't 
put  off  hungry  men  by  explaining  to  empty 
stomachs  the  chemistry  of  bread-making! 
Give  them  bread  promptly,  and  while  it  is 
being  digested  and  assimilated  God  will 
take  care  of  the  chemistry. 

Un CONSECRATED   MONEY. 

The  seventh  difficulty  is  unconverted  and 
unconsecrated  money.  Love  of  wealth  was 
the  teaching  of  paganism,  but  love  of  man 
is  the  teaching  of  Christianity.  There  is  an 
absence  of  the  recognition  of  stewardship 
of  material  possessions  among  Christians, 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  an  assertion  of  own- 
ership ;  God  and  his  cause  are  not  counted 
proprietors,  but  pensioners  upon  man's  pos- 
sessions. 

6  8i 


Ge;nerai,  Survey  and  Home  Fields. 

There  is  a  practical  unbelief,  evinced  by 
selfish  and  penurious  professed  believers,  in 
the  awful  disparity  between  the  amounts  of 
money  expended  on  luxuries  and  personal 
gratification  and  the  amount  expended  for 
the  extension  of  Christ's  kingdom,  which 
breeds  unbelief  in  the  sincerity  of  Christians 
in  the  minds  of  the  unconverted.  Uncon- 
verted money  in  a  Christian  land  of  bound- 
less wealth,  and  where  the  multitudes  enjoy 
both  comforts  and  luxuries  which  are  the 
products  of  a  civilization  produced  by  sacri- 
fices of  substance  and  soul,  stands  as  an  in- 
explicable paradox. 

Money  seems  to  be  the  last  power  to  sur- 
render to  the  claims  of  Christ,  and  yet  be- 
yond question  it  is  the  supreme  test  of  sac- 
rifice and  loyalty.  Christ  sat  over  against 
the  treasury  and  watched  what  the  people 
put  in,  and  this  is  the  only  record  of  his 
watching  the  conduct  of  men  when  he  was 
in  the  midst  of  them. 

82 


DiP^ficuivTiES  AT  Home:. 

Give  the  Christian  Church  enough  money 
and  it  can  hasten  the  coming  of  the  millen- 
nium. What  are  the  facts  now?  The  un- 
churched masses  will  be  reached  when  the 
churched,  moneyed  masses  are  reached. 
Talent,  government,  architecture,  art,  learn- 
ing, have  been  largely  Christianized,  but  the 
■money  power  is  only  beginning  to  be.  An 
expert  estimate,  a  few  years  since,  states 
that  one  fifth  of  the  material  wealth  of  the 
United  States  is  in  the  hands  of  Church 
members,  and  this  takes  no  account  of  the 
immense  capital  in  brains  and  muscles.  Of 
our  wealth  one  sixteenth  of  one  per  cent 
was  given  for  the  salvation  of  800,000,000 
heathens.  Only  a  small  added  per  cent  is 
given  for  home  work.  A  great  majority 
of  Church  members  give  only  a  trifle,  or 
nothing  at  all,  for  the  work  of  God  outside 
their  individual  churches.  A  revival  is 
needed  here.  The  gospel  of  stewardship 
must  be  both  preached  and  illustrated. 

83 


General  Survey  and  Home  Fields. 

Social  Problems  Unsolved. 

The  eighth  difficulty  is  the  unchristian  re- 
lations in  a  Christian  land  between  so-called 
Christian  employers  and  employees.  The 
Church  is  not  meeting  the  social  questions 
involved  in  the  problem  of  increasing  and 
enormously  concentrated  v^^ealth  and  its  re- 
lation to  the  laborer  who  largely  produces 
it.  Labor  has  no  rights,  but  the  laborer  has. 
What  is  an  equitable  adjustment  of  advan- 
tages between  the  rich  and  the  poor  is  a 
question  which  must  be  answered  by  a 
Christian  people. 

The  ninth  difficulty  is  the  Church  is  not 
reaching  the  toiling  masses,  especially  in  the 
centers  of  population.  The  Church  is  mak- 
ing an  inadequate  impression  upon  the  social 
conditions  of  cities  and  the  centers  of  popu- 
lation of  composite  character.  We  spend 
too  much  time  in  explaining  the  reasons 
whv  we  fail,  and  assert  that  conditions  have 

84 


Dii^ificuivTiES  AT  Home:. 

changed  as  though  that  fact  reHeved  from 
obHgation  to  forward  the  Gospel  remedy  for 
all  maladies  and  all  wrongs.  After  all,  no 
change  of  conditions  can  be  conceived  that 
can  challenge  the  success  of  the  Gospel, 
unless  we  confess  that  the  Gospel  is  not 
designed  to  be  a  universal  remedy  to  save 
the  race. 

Why  Artisans  Are  Unreached. 

Some  approximate  causes,  to  account  for 
the  conceded  fact  that  wage  workers  are 
largely  outside  the  churches  and  are  un- 
evangelized,  have  been  obtained  from  men 
who  have  honestly  sought  the  truth  and 
had  opportunities  for  finding  it.  Let  us 
tabulate  them : 

First.  Reasons  given  by  artisans :  i. 
Need  of  recreation  because  of  incessant 
work  all  the  week.  2.  Inability  to  dress  as 
well  as  others  who  attend  church.  3.  Se- 
cret societies  are  as  good  as  the  Church.    4. 

85 


Gdn^rai.  Surve:y  and  Homk  Fields. 

Inability  to  pay  for  the  privilege,  after  de- 
ducting the  necessary  expenses  of  living. 
5.  Lack  of  confidence  in  ministers  because 
they  are  hirelings.  6.  The  unjust  and  cruel 
way  in  which  employees  are  treated  by  so- 
called  Christian  employers.  7.  All  answers 
indicate  that  the  artisan  classes  think  they 
are  not  really  wanted  in  the  churches. 

Second.  Reasons  given  by  Christian 
workers  among  the  artisan  classes  and 
among  the  poor:  i.  Spiritual  apathy;  in- 
difference. This,  by  all,  is  given  as  the  chief 
cause.  2.  The  saloon  and  its  influence.  3. 
In  neighborhoods  where  wealth  and  poverty 
inevitably  touch  each  other,  the  conflict  be- 
tween labor  and  capital.  4.  The  influence 
of  foreigners  who  come  to  America  without 
interest  in  Church  or  religion.  5.  The 
Church  and  the  ministry  aim  too  exclusively 
to  reach  the  cultivated.  Services  and  preach- 
ing are  not  adapted  to  all  classes.  6.  Pew 
rentals.     7,  Sunday  newspapers.     8.  Hos- 

86 


DiFi^icuivTiDS  AT  Home;. 

tility  to  ecclesiastical  influence ;  impatience 
of  moral  restraint.  9.  Secret  societies  and 
trades  unions  meet  on  Sundays.  10.  Over- 
work, leading  to  bodily  fatigue.  11.  The 
bewitching  bicycle.  12.  Poor  preaching  on 
unessential  themes.  13.  Belief  that  the 
Church  does  not  care  for  the  temporal  in- 
terests of  the  people.  14.  Distractions  and 
amusements  of  great  cities.  15.  Tenement 
house  irresponsibilities  of  life,  which  is 
•equally  true  of  flats  and  apartment  houses. 

Home:  Lii^e  Endangered. 

Christians  lose  their  identity,  and  thus 
their  sense  of  responsibility,  when  herded 
in  cities  as  thoroughly  as  they  do  when  iso- 
lated on  the  frontiers,  and  in  addition  the 
family  life  is  destroyed.  While  the  conflict 
between  capital  and  labor  is  an  impor- 
tant secondary  cause  of  nonattendance  at 
church,  an  experienced  worker  says, 
"  There  are  three  causes  I  would  place  far 

87 


General  Survey  and  Home  Fields. 

above  it:  i.  The  worldly  and  unchristian 
character  of  much  of  church  life  and  meth- 
ods. 2.  Indifference  to  all  things  religious. 
3.  The  distractions  of  a  great  city,  com- 
bined with  tenement  house,  flat,  and  apart- 
ment irresponsibility  of  life." 

Almost  all  the  perils  that  threaten  our 
civil  liberties  and  evangelical  Christian  re- 
ligion are  enhanced  and  concentrated  in 
our  cities,  where  municipal  government  has 
only  occasionally  approached  safe  and  suc- 
cessful solution.  In  pioneer  and  sparsely 
settled  sections  of  the  country  the  perils  can 
be  more  easily  met  and  more  promptly 
averted.  Moral  and  religious  influences 
and  governments  are  all  weakest  in  cities, 
where  they  need  to  be  the  strongest.  The 
cities,  which  are  gathering  together  the 
most  dangerous  elements  of  our  civiliza- 
tion, will  in  due  time,  unless  Christianized, 
prove  the  destruction  of  our  free  institu- 
tions.    The  tendency  of  American  civiliza- 

88 


Dii^^icuivTiKS  AT  Home:. 

tion  is  the  herding  of  population  in  cities. 
The  revelation  of  the  last  census  in  this 
direction  ought  to  alarm  us,  and  make  us 
especially  zealous  in  looking  well  to  the 
outposts  as  an  offset  to  the  perils  of  the 
city. 

Civilization  in  tenement  houses  and  sani- 
tary regulations  in  the  abodes  of  the  poor 
must  be  controlled  by  Christian  sentiment 
crystallizing  itself  in  legislative  action. 
Otherwise  demagogues  will  produce  dan- 
gerous legislation. 

The  problem  is  most  difficult  because  of 
the  composite  character  of  our  populations 
and  the  incident  experimental  character  of 
our  government,  based  on  substantially  un- 
restricted universal  suffrage.  But  all  our 
problems  have  been  new  and  difficult.  We 
send  missionaries  to  these  foreigners  in 
their  native  lands,  and  shall  we  stand  ap- 
palled before  them  when  they  come  to  us? 

Christianity  teaches  that  you  cannot  cure 

89 


G^NERAi,  Survi;y  and  Home:  Fiei^ds. 

disease  by  doctoring  the  symptoms;  that 
you  must  get  at  the  cause.  Christianity 
creates  homes,  and  a  city  and  country  of 
homes  is  safe.  The  family  and  the  home 
are  inventions  of  God;  the  social  unit,  the 
unit  of  Anglo-Saxon  Christian  civilization, 
is  not  the  individual  but  the  family.  With- 
out Christianity  people  are  housed,  but  they 
are  homeless.  If  this  home  land  is  to  be 
evangelized  it  will  be  by  the  power  of  the 
cross  of  Christ.  The  cross  means  sacrifice ; 
and  sacrifice  means  blood ;  and  blood  means 

life ;  and  life  will  save  life. 

90 


V. 

SUCCESSES  AND  OPPORTU- 
NITIES IN  THE  CITIES. 

By  REV.   E.  J.   HELMS,  D.D. 

There  was  wise  statesmanship  in  the 
program  of  Jesus  when  he  left  seduded 
Nazareth  and  made  Capernaum,  the  com- 
mercial metropoUs  of  Galilee,  the  base  of 
his  propaganda.  St.  Paul  was  inspired  by 
the  same  wisdom  wheri  he  sought  to  evan- 
gelize the  world  by  planting  his  churches  in 
the  great  centers  like  Antioch,  Ephesus, 
Corinth,  and  Rome. 

The  Problem. 

The  city  problem  must  not  be  overlooked 
when  we  now  consider  the  evangelization 

91 


Gknerai.  Surve:y  and  Home  Fields. 

of  the  world.  For  the  city  problem  is  more 
than  ever  a  world  problem.  The  city  never 
possessed  greater  strategic  value  than  to- 
day. In  its  concentration  of  business,  news, 
fashion,  social,  and  political  life,  it  influ- 
ences more  than  ever  before  the  remotest 
hamlets.  As  a  field,  there  is  none  so  access- 
ible as  the  city,  none  so  full  of  tares  that 
must  be  burned,  none  so  full  of  grain  white 
for  the  harvest.  The  Church  that  neglects 
to  give  adequate  attention  to  the  mighty 
civic,  industrial,  social,  and  moral  problems 
arising  from  the  congested  life  of  our  cities 
is  a  Church  lacking  in  the  vision  and  states- 
manship that  is  needed  to  make  it  coexten- 
sive with  the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth. 

For  a  hundred  years  the  great  problem 
of  Methodism  was  to  keep  up  with  the 
march  into  the  wilderness.  Our  fathers 
had  the  task  of  making  our  Western  States 
Anglo-Saxon  and  Protestant.  The  frontier 
is  still  our  problem;   but,  as  some  one  has 

92 


Succe:sse;s  in  the:  Cities. 

said,  '^the  city  is  now  our  frontier."  For 
the  last  fifty  years  of  Methodist  history 
we  have  had  more  than  enough  to  do  to 
keep  our  cities  Anglo-Saxon  in  civilization 
and  Christian,  rather  than  pagan.  It  is  not 
difficult  to  prove  by  statistics  that  in  our 
cities  Methodist  successes  have  been  less 
frequent  than  defeats.  Our  numerical  in- 
crease has  not  been  in  proportion  to  the  in- 
crease in  population.  We  have  not  only 
failed  to  win  many  from  unevangelical  com- 
munions, but  we  have  scarcely  been  able  to 
keep  the  thousands  of  our  own,  who  have 
come  to  the  city  from  the  country, 

Atte:mpti:d  SoIvUTions. 

It  is  impossible  to  overestimate  the  value 
to  city  evangelization  of  the  various  chari- 
table and  philanthropic  activities  that  have 
sprung  up  in  our  cities  in  recent  years.  The 
deaconess  homes,  the  hospitals,  orphanages, 
settlements,  and  other  agencies  are  doing  a 

93 


Gendrai,  Surve:y  and  Homi:  Fields. 

great  work  of  relief.  Their  greater  work, 
however,  consists  in  bringing  our  Church 
to  recognize  the  value  of  the  vital  religion 
contained  in  the  second  great  command- 
ment, and  in  removing  the  prejudice 
against  the  Church  in  the  minds  of  the 
people,  because  we  have  not  loved  our  fel- 
low-men as  we  ought. 

For  more  than  a  decade  there  has  been 
a  hopeful  change  for  the  better  in  our 
Methodist  city  work,  brought  about  largely 
through  the  organization  in  our  Church  of 
the  National  City  Evangelization  Union — a 
federation  of  our  Methodist  city  missionary 
societies. 

Work  as  Illustrated  in  Boston. 

City  evangelization  demands  a  vigi- 
lant attention  to  the  suburban  problem. 
Churches  must  be  planted  to  accommodate 
the  people  moving  to  the  outskirts.  In  the 
past  ten  years  our  Boston  society  has  es- 

94 


Successes  in  the  Cities. 

tablished  eight  self-supporting  churches. 
Some  of  these  will  be  the  strongest  in  our 
city.  In  this  period  only  one  church  has 
been  given  up. 

During  the  preceding  twenty-five  years 
some  of  our  strongest  churches  sold  out, 
and  moved  away.  They  could  not  face  the 
tides  of  foreign  immigration.  Five  churches 
in  the  North  End  alone  have  been  aban- 
doned. Why?  Because  of  the  one-sided 
gospel  of  our  fathers.  If  the  parsonages  of 
those  churches  had  been  converted  into  dea- 
coness homes  and  settlements,  and  some  of 
their  church  buildings  had  been  made  over 
into  hospitals  and  schools,  and  other  church 
buildings  had  been  converted  into  combined 
places  for  worship,  relief,  and  social  serv- 
ice, the  Methodism  of  Boston  to-day  would 
be  strong  even  in  the  North  End,  and  our 
foreigners,  which  compose  two  thirds  of 
our  whole  population,  would  be  profoundly 
impressed  by  our  Protestant  life.    Instead, 

95 


Ge:nkrai.  Survicy  and  Home:  Fiei^ds. 

as  soon  as  the  foreigners  settled  about  us, 
like  other  denominations,  we  picked  up  our 
skirts,  elevated  our  noses,  and  hastened 
away,  leaving  the  foreigner  to  the  Catholic 
church,  synagogue,  saloon,  and  brothel. 
That  method  does  not  convert  foreigners  to 
Christianity.  In  the  treatment  of  the  for- 
eigner our  public  schools,  hospitals,  and  in- 
stitutions have  been  more  Christian  than  the 
Church.  This  does  not  commend  Protes- 
tantism to  the  respect  of  the  poor. 

SdttIvEmknt  Work. 

Our  Boston  society  during  the  past  ten 
years  has  been  slowly  recovering  some  lost 
ground.  Through  the  University  Settle- 
ment we  have  again  got  a  foothold  in  the 
North  End.  The  Woman's  Home  Mis- 
sionary Society  has  built  a  fine  settlement 
home  and  medical  mission.  The  mission 
heals  the  sick.  The  work  of  the  settlement 
appeals  to  the  best  people  of  the  community. 

96 


Succe:sse:s  in  the:  Citie:s. 

It  has  prepared  for  college  several  of  the 
brightest  Italian  and  Jewish  boys  and  girls, 
and  they  have  graduated  with  honor  from 
Harvard  and  Boston  University.  Already, 
they  are  beginning  to  wield  a  great  influ- 
ence in  the  community  among  their  coun- 
trymen. Have  any  been  converted  ?  A  few. 
Two  Jews  were  converted  the  same  day  in 
our  mission.  One  joined  a  Methodist 
church,  but  later  backslid,  and  was  impris- 
oned for  crime.  The  other  joined  a  Con- 
gregational church  and  for  three  years  has 
been  a  missionary  and  colporteur  in  Russia. 

From  the  settlement  developed  our 
Portuguese  work.  We  graduated  our  first 
missionary  from  Boston  University  School 
of  Theology;  he  is  now  at  the  head  of  a 
prosperous  Portuguese  work  in  Honolulu, 
and  associated  with  him  are  several  of  his 
converts,  whom  he  took  with  him  from 
Boston. 

Our  Italian  work  also  sprang  from  the 
7  97 


Ge^nivRai.  Survey  and  Hoaie  Fields. 

settlement.  I  am  told  that  besides  two  lo- 
cal churches  the  Italian  churches  that  were 
subsequently  started  in  Buffalo,  Cincinnati, 
and  Chicago  began  with  converts  from  our 
Italian  mission.  Several  preaching  stations 
have  also  been  established  in  Italy  by  the 
converts  of  our  city  missions.  If  Hed- 
strom,  converted  in  the  Bethel  ship  in  New 
York,  could  carry  the  Gospel  back  and  es- 
tablish our  nation  in  Scandinavia,  what  re- 
sults might  we  not  expect  abroad  from 
faithful  work  among  foreigners  here  at 
home? 

Institutioxal  Church  Work. 

In  the  South  End  of  Boston  institutional 
church  methods  have  been  inaugurated  by 
our  society  in  cooperation  with  another  de- 
nomination. Here  the  other  denomination 
has  constructed  a  finely  equipped  building, 
while  our  society  has  filled  it  with  twenty- 
one  religious  meetings  every  week,  twenty- 

98 


Succ^ss^s  IN  the;  CiTii:s. 

three  children's  meetings  each  week,  and 
twenty  meetings  for  adults.  Here  is  to  be 
found  a  temperance  saloon,  a  gymnasium,  a 
kindergarten,  day  nursery,  employment  bu- 
reau, industrial  school,  music  school,  a 
brotherhood,  and  many  other  forms  of  edu- 
cational and  philanthropic  enterprises.  The 
place  is  a  beehive  of  industry.  Its  work  is 
a  rainbow  of  loving  services  in  one  of  the 
darkest  sections  of  our  city.  The  example 
of  Morgan  Memorial  is  being  followed 
gradually  by  other  churches  in  our  city,  to 
their  profit  and  our  encouragement. 

Since  Morgan  Memorial  began  these 
forms  of  work  more  than  fifty  houses  of 
ill  fame  have  been  suppressed  in  that  neigh- 
borhood, together  with  several  notorious 
saloons,  and  gambling  resorts.  Into  the  sec- 
tion about  this  church  the  foreign  popula- 
tions have  been  pouring  like  a  flood  during 
the  past  two  years.  It  is  too  early  to  say 
how  they;  will  take  to  these  forms  of  reli- 

99 


Ge:neral  Survi:y  and  Home  Fields. 

gious  activity.  This  is  a  fact,  however, 
that,  since  these  new  methods  have  been 
tried,  no  other  Methodist  church  in  New 
England  has  had  so  many  people  seeking 
salvation  as  have  gathered  around  the 
altars  of  Morgan  Chapel. 

Points  Estabushed. 

The  great  successes  of  city  evangeliza- 
tion to-day  are  to  be  achieved  :  i.  By  activ- 
ity in  humanitarian  work  in  the  name  and 
spirit  of  Jesus.  2.  By  an  alert  care  of  the 
growing  suburbs.  3.  By  a  wise  adaptation 
of  church  construction  and  methods  to  the 
peoples  who  live  in  the  most  congested  sec- 
tions. 4.  By  a  special  attention  being  given 
to  strangers  and  foreigners.  5.  By  being 
wide-awake  in  all  matters  of  civic  and  so- 
cial reform. 

Opportunities. 

Our  government  sent  school-teachers  to 
the  Philippines.     It  now  proposes  to  bring 
100 


SuccEjssES  IN  THE  Citie:s. 

over  here  from  those  islands,  every  year, 
many  of  the  brightest  young  men  to  educate 
them  for  government  positions.  Protes- 
tant missionaries  should  be  appointed  to  see 
that  those  young  men  are  converted  before 
they  return.  We  have  been  so  slow  in 
sending  the  Gospel  to  other  lands  that  with- 
in the  past  year  God  has  sent  nearly  a  mil- 
lion foreigners  to  our  shores.  It  behooves 
us  to  Christianize  them  for  our  own  preser- 
vation as  well  as  for  the  sake  of  the  lands 
from  whence  they  come. 

Funds  for  Phit^anthropic  Enterprises. 

Methodists  have  done  little  compared 
with  some  other  denominations  in  the  lines 
of  institutional  church  work,  though  these 
methods  have  generally  met  with  success, 
where  old-time  methods  have  failed.  The 
chief  reason  for  delay  has  been  a  lack  of 
financial  backing.  It  is  far  cheaper  to 
preach  than  it  is  to  be  philanthropic.    The 

lOI 


Gi:neraIv  Survey  and  Home  Fiei^ds. 

multitude  would  believe  in  us  more  if  we 
both  preached  and  were  philanthropic.  I 
have  heard  of  rich  Episcopalians  who  send 
their  signed  checks  to  the  rectors  of  St. 
George's  and  St.  Bartholomew's,  New 
York,  with  the  request  that  they  be  filled 
out  with  any  sums  needed  in  order  to  make 
some  enterprise  or  charity,  in  which  the  rec- 
tors are  interested,  a  success.  We  have 
some  princely  laymen,  but  I  have  not  heard 
of  any  of  our  ministers  being  overworked 
by  filling  out  our  laymen's  checks.  Often- 
times, these  Episcopalian  and  other  organi- 
zations make  their  work  successful  by  using 
their  money  to  hire  zealous  Methodists  to 
carry  on  their  enterprises.  But  we,  as 
Methodists,  ought  to  be  carrying  on  such  an 
enterprise  as  St.  George's  or  St.  Bartholo- 
mew's in  every  one  of  our  large  cities. 

In  one  respect,  I  think  we  ought  to  be 
congratulated  that  our  Church  is  not  handi- 
capped by  being  made  the  creature  or  in- 

102 


Succe;sse:s  in  the:  Cities. 

strument  of  the  benefactions  of  some  men 
of  wealth  who  have  obtained  their  money 
by  means  of  fraud,  intimidation,  oppres- 
sion, and  civic  and  social  crime.  Thank 
God,  we  are  delivered  from  the  stigma  of 
such  an  offensive  colossus  in  our  ranks. 

Cooperation  o^  Laymen. 

The  Methodist  Church  is  not  poor. 
We  have  men  and  money  enough  in  our 
churches,  if  they  were  filled  with  the  pente- 
costal  spirit,  to  cope  with  the  problem  of 
city  evangelization,  and  also  with  those 
allied  problems  of  sanitation,  housing, 
parks,  education,  recreation,  and  the  re- 
moval of  the  causes  of  poverty,  all  of  which 
must  be  settled  before  the  kingdom  shall 
fully  come.  In  the  great  Wesleyan  city 
missions  are  to  be  found  scores  of  laymen, 
in  middle  life  and  a  little  past,  who  have 
retired  from  business  with  a  comfortable  in- 
come, and  are  giving  their  whole  time  to 
103 


Gi:ne;rai.  Survey  and  Home  Fiei^ds. 

the  philanthropic  and  religious  activities  of 
the  churches.  Others,  having  made  ade- 
quate provision  for  their  families,  continue 
in  business,  giving  all  they  can  make  to  the 
work  of  missions.  The  work  of  these  Eng- 
lish brethren  could  be  safely  copied  this  side 
the  water.  We  need,  as  a  denomination, 
just  such  consecration  of  life  and  means. 
How  many  of  our  princely  laymen  are  liv- 
ing modestly  in  order  that  they  may  pour 
all  they  make  into  the  service  of  the  king- 
dom? How  many  are  satisfied,  when  they 
have  provided  for  a  comfortable  old  age, 
to  retire  from  business,  and  give  the  best 
part  of  their  lives  to  upbuilding  Christ's 
work? 

Christianizing  Great  Movements. 

Charles  Loring  Brace  tells  us  that  the 

early  Church  adapted  itself  to  the  conditions 

of  its  times,  that  the  early  Christians  made 

a  vigorous  propaganda  in  the  labor  organi- 

104 


Successes  in  the  Cities. 

zations,  and  in  the  burial  and  secret  socie- 
ties then  existing.  They  joined  these  move- 
ments in  order  to  Christianize  them.  In 
our  day  secret  orders  are  paralyzing  the 
churches  instead  of  the  churches  Chris- 
tianizing them. 

In  England  I  learned  that  the  leaders  of 
trade  unionism  are  very  frequently  Wes- 
leyan  local  preachers.  Their  practice  in  the 
pulpit  has  trained  them  for  these  positions. 
English  trade  unionism  is  largely  Christian. 
American  trade  unionism  is  too  often  the 
contrary.  If  we  were  wise  we  would  see 
to  it,  that,  from  our  schools  and  seminaries 
every  year,  we  would  send  missionaries  in- 
to these  great  labor  organizations  to  make 
them  Christian.  Here  is  open  a  wonderful 
opportunity  to  which  the  Church  thus  far 
has  been  blind. 

Are  you  all  aware,  my  brethren,  of  the 
wonderful  socialist  propaganda  going  on  in 
our  country?  These  socialists  are  working 
105 


GE:NeRAi,  Surve;y  and  Home  Fie:i,ds. 

the  trade  unions,  and  are  showing  a  zeal 
and  sacrifice  that  ought  to  put  the  blush  of 
shame  to  every  Church.  In  the  West  they 
are  making  mighty  progress  among  the 
farmers,  especially  the  element  affiliated 
with  the  Populist  movement.  English  so- 
cialism is  dominated  by  the  ideas  of  such 
men  as  Kingsley,  F.  D.  Maurice,  and  the 
Fabian  essayists.  But  in  America  the  Ger- 
man materialistic  and  atheistic  school  is 
largely  in  the  ascendency.  Aside  from 
its  materialistic  and  atheistic  bias,  the 
movement  contains  much  that  pertains  to 
the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth.  Would 
I  have  Methodists  become  socialists?  If 
they  can  make  this  great  movement  Chris- 
tian, yes.  I  long  to  see  some  of  the 
bishops  of  our  Church  recognized  as 
having  pronounced  sympathies  with  work- 
ingmen,  and  as  becoming  so  familiar  with 
their  conditions  that  they  will  be  called  in 
to  arbitrate  in  these  contests  between  labor 
1 06 


Successes  in  the  Cities. 

and  capital.  The  Methodist  Church  ought 
to  be  the  factor  in  the  settlement  of  these 
great  problems  of  our  times.  Woe  to  the 
Church  that  sides  with  Dives  instead  of 
I.azarus.  Here  is  a  supreme  opportunity 
for  our  Church.  The  handwriting  on  the 
wall  indicates  the  coming  downfall  of  com- 
petitive and  capitalistic  greed.  The  king- 
dom of  heaven  is  at  hand.  But  the  oncom- 
ing socialistic  host  is  interested  only  in  a 
material  kingdom.  God  help  us  plain  Meth- 
odist people  to  bring  into  this  class  war- 
fare such  a  spirit  of  love  as  will  not  only 
secure  to  Labor  the  just  rewards  of  her  toil, 
but  will  cause  her  to  seek  also  for  the  eter- 
nal riches. 

107 


Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Libraries 


1012  01234   101 


